
Qass -h-Sl 
Book :_^- 



^° 1789% 

I THE 1 ifc 
WASHINGTON 
INAUGURATION 



1889 

(ILLUSTRATED) 

BY 

Mrs. Martha J. Lamb 

New York and London: 
white and allen 




MANUFACTURERS OF GRAND, UPRIGHT AND SQUARE 

WAREROOMS: 

NEW YORK: 

No. 112 FIFTH AVENUE, 

ABOVE SIXTEENTH tT. 

WASHINGTON: 
No. 817 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE. 
BETWEEN CHARLEa A ST. PAUL, 

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more than Fifty "STears before the Public, haTs. by their 

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the " XrNKQUALLED " in 

TONE, TOUGH. WORKMATTSHIP AND DURABILnT 



BALTIMORE. 
Not. 22 & 24 E. BALTIMORE ST., 



WILHCLM & GRAEF, 

Broadway and 26th Street, 
IMPORTERS OF CHINA, GLASS AND EARTHENWARE. 

Fine Table Glass Sets, 6o pieces, from $3.50. 

Fine New Engraved Glass Sets, 60 pieces, from $9.00. 

Complete Decorated Dinner Sets, from $15.00. 

G. DOKFLINSER & SONS' RIGH GUT GLASS. 

TOILET SETS AND JARS—At Low Prices. 

LAMPS — Newest Variety at Reduced Prices. 



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and 

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Proof 

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Safes 

To Rent 
for 

$8.00 

to 

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Per Annum. 



Bonds, Papers, Plate, Bronzes, Paintings, Trunks, and Articles 
of Value, received for Safe Keeping. 



SEIP^A-ia-A-TE XJEIPJLIiTIMIEIsrT I^OIi IjJL3DIES. 



The Offices of this Company and the Fourteenth Street Bank are connecting. 



IIsrCOI^:POK.^TEID 1851. 



THE 



BERKSHIRE LIFE 

INSURANCE CO., 

PITTSFIKLE), MASSACHUSETTS. 



WILLIAM R. PLUNKETT, President. 

JAMES M. BARKER, Vice-President. 

JAMES ^A/^. HULL, Sec'y and Treasurer. 



The definite surrender values in cash, or paid-up insurance, 
guaranteed by the MASSACHUSETTS y ON- FORFEITURE LAW, in 

accordance with which all policies of the Berkshire are issued; the 
soUd financial condition of the Company; its large surplus; its hand- 
some dividends to policyholders; its liberal policies; its promptness 
in paying all legitimate claims, and its excellent reputation, make 
the Berkshire a most desirable Company for the policyholder. 



New York and New Jersey State Agency, 

271 BROADWAY, NEVS^ YORK. 

GEO. W. ENGLISH, Manager. 



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by Modern European Artists of the First Order. 



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Program of Celebration, 

Monday, April 29, 1889. 



President Benjamin Harrison on his arrival in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 
the forenoon, will be met at the station by distinguished gentlemen and a 
military escort, and conducted through Broad and West Jersey streets to the 
residence of Governor Greene, where breakfast will be served. The proces- 
sion—civic, military, old-time agriculturist, firemen, state and city officials- 
will then proceed to conduct the President to Elizabethport, the route being 
as follows: through Cherry street to Rahway avenue (which was the old road 
over which Washington came), thence to Broad street, past the corner where 
the old tavern of 1789 stood, down Broad street, passing the old First Pres- 
byterian Church where Parson Caldwell preached, to East Jersey street, 
thence past the old Boudinot House, where Washington lunched in April, 1789,' 
to Spring street, and thence to Elizabeth avenue, formerly the old country 
road to Elizabethport, and thus to the wharf, where he will embark for 
New York. 

THE NAVAL PARADE. 

At Elizabethport, on Monday, April 29, 1889, President Harrison and his 
distinguished party, including the cabinet officers, will be welcomed by the 
New York Navy Committee with its chairman, Asa Bird Gardiner, at the head, 
and under its direction embark on the United States steamer Dispatch. The 
governors, commissioners of states, guests invited by the Committee on States, 
and members of the Centennial Committee will follow the Dispatch in the 
steamers Erasttis Wiman, Siriiis and others. The line of United States ships 



"CELLULOID" 

Novelties * and * Fancy * Goods. 



"/"CELLULOID" is now extensively used in the manufacture of all the leading styles of staple 
^~^ and fancy wares, and reproduces the peculiarities of color and finish of the finest Ivory, 
Amber and Tortoise shell. Made in elegant and artistic shapes it rivals the genuine articles, and 
in varied and brilliant colors it is unsurpassed. 

The following comprise some of the articles made, and for which there is an ever increasing demand : 

MANICURE SETS in great variety of design. 

PEN HOLDERS. PAPER KNIVES. WHIST MARKERS. 

CORK SCREWS. BABY RATTLES. HAIR PINS. 

UMBRELLA and PARASOL HANDLES, &c., &c., &c. 



"CELLULOID" COLLARS AND CUFFS. 

WATER-PROOF. WATER-PROOF. WATER-PROOF. 

These are the only water-proof collars and cuffs made with an interlining, and are wari'antcd 
to give satisfaction to the wearer. 

It is in reality a linen collar covered on both sides with water-proof " Celluloid." 




CONSUMERS ARE CAUTIONED AGAINST ALL IMITATIONS. — ?«- 

PURCHASE ONLY GENUINE CELLULOID. 
_^ EVERY COLLAR AND CUFF STAMPED WITH OUR TRADE MARK. 

MARK. 

CKLLXJLOID NOVELTY COMPANY, 

SOLE MANUFACTURERS, 

Nos. 313 and 315 Broadway, New York. 




program of Celebration — continued. 

of war, yachts and steamboats will be formed in the Upper Bay, right resting 
near the " Kills," and each vessel, after saluting, will follow the Presidential 
steamers carrying the Presidential party and invited guests. It is expected 
that this Naval Parade will occupy about two hours, and that the Bay will 
present a more splendid and attractive appearance than it ever has before in its 
long and picturesque history. 

On arriving in the East River, opposite Wall Street ferry-slip, a barge 
manned by a crew of ship masters from the Marine Society of the Port of 
New York, with Captain Ambrose Snow of the Society, as coxswain, will row 
the President to the ferry stairs. The crew of the barge that rowed President 
Washington from Elizabethport to the foot of Wall Street one hundred years 
ago were members of the same Society. 

At the foot of Wall Street, President Harrison will be received by the 
Committee on States, its chairman, William G. Hamilton, the grandson of 
Alexander Hamilton, at its head, who will introduce the governor of the state 
and the mayor of the city of New York to the President of the United States. 
The ceremony of reception will be similar to that of one hundred years ago, 
when Washington was received by Governor Clinton and Mayor Duane. The 
President and his suite will then proceed, under the escort of United States 
troops, the veteran corps of the Seventh Regiment, delegations from the So- 
ciety of the Cincinnati, the Sons of the Revolution, the Loyal Legion, and 
Commanders of the Grand Army Posts in New York, up Wall Street to the 
Equitable Building, where, in the elegant rooms of the Lawyer's Club, a recep- 
tion will be given and luncheon served by the Committee, to the President of 
the United States and the Commissioners from all the States and Territories. 

At four o'clock, the President will proceed to the Governor's Room in the 
City Hall, where a public reception will be held from four to six o'clock. 

In the evening a ball is to be given in honor of the President of the United 
States, and other guests, in the Metropolitan Opera House. This has been 
projected on such a sumptuous scale that a temporary supper-room has been 
constructed which is nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and is said to be 
capable of accommodating three thousan.d guests at one time, and it will be 
elaborately decorated. 




HER MAJESTY 





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Branch House 

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C. M. MOSEMAN. 



MAKERS, IMPORTEES AND EXPORTERS OF 



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Program of Celebration — continued. 

The Great Centennial Day, April 30th. 

SERVICES IN THE CHURCHES. 
LITERARY EXERCISES IN WALL STREET. 
THE MILITARY PARADE. 
ART EXHIBITION OF HISTORIC RELICS. 
THE CENTENNIAL BANQUET. 



On Tuesday morning, April 30, a special service of thanksgiving will be 
held at 9 o'clock in St. Paul's Church, in Broadway, which will be attended 
by President Harrison and other distinguished guests. This service will be 
conducted by the Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, Bishop of New York, as the ser- 
vice on the day of Washington's Inauguration in 1789 was conducted by the 
Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, then Bishop of New York. At the same hour 
services will be held in the other churches of the city, and throughout the 
length and breadth of the country. It will be remembered in this connection 
that at nine o'clock on the morning of April 30, 1789, all the churches in the 
city of New York were open-ed for brief religious services. 

LITERARY EXERCISES IN WALL STREET. 

Following closely upon the religious ceremonies at St. Paul's Church, at 
10 o'clock, A. M., the Literary Exercises commemorative of Washington's 
Inauguration will take place on the steps of the Sub-Treasury building in Wall 
Street, the exact locality where Washington took the oath on April 30, 1789. 
These exercises will be the most interesting and significant features of the 
entire celebration. There will be an opening prayer by Rev. Richard S. Storrs, 
D. D., L.L. D.; a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier; an oration by Hon. 
Chauncey M. Depew; an address by President Harrison; and the benediction 
by Most Reverend Michael A. Corrigan, Archbishop of New York. 

THE MILITARY PARADE. 

The military parade will be an affair of great magnitude. The procession ' 
will move north from Wall street and Broadway at the close of the literary 
exercises in Wall street. Its route will be up Broadway to Waverley Place, down 
Waverley Place to Fifth Avenue, and up Fifth Avenue to Fifty-ninth street. It 
will be in motion about 1 1 o'clock, A. M., General Schofield acting as Grand 



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Branch at 205 Broadway, cor. K\alton Street. 



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Program of Celebration — continued. 

Marshal. The principal features of this pageant will be the cadets from the 
Military Academy at West Point, and from the Naval Academy at Annapolis; 
troops from the Regular Army; and the governor of each state in the Union 
at the head of the militia of his state, Delaware leading off, and the other 
states following in the order of time in which they adopted the Constitution, 
or were received into the Union. At Madison Square President Harrison will 
leave the procession, and taking his place upon the Grand Stand, will review 
the parade. There will be triumphal arches of flowers spanning Fifth Avenue 
at Twenty-third street, at Twenty-sixth street, and near Fifty-seventh street; 
and other street decorations of great beauty. It is expected that there will be 
upwards of fifty thousand men participating in this magnificent demonstration. 

ART EXHIBITION OF HISTORIC RELICS. 

At 7 o'clock P. M. the Art Committee, of which Henry G. Marquand is 
chairman, will receive the President of the United States at the Assembly 
Rooms of the Metropolitan Opera House, to view the memorial exhibition 
of Historic Portraits and Relics, of which a special feature will be the pictures 
and relics of Washington, and of those who assisted in his inauguration a 
century ago. This exhibition will be opened to the public on the 17th of 
April, and continue three weeks. 

THE CENTENNIAL BANQUET. 

On the evening of the same day a banquet will be given to the President 
of the United States, and other invited guests, in the Metropolitan Opera 
House, where tables magnificently decorated will be laid for eight hundred 
guests. At the close of the banquet distinguished orators of national reputa- 
tion will address the assemblage. 



THE THIRD DAY. 

The Industrial Parade of May i, 1889. 



The Industrial Parade, on Wednesday, the first day of May, will embrace 
a succession of floating tableaux that will pass through the streets, demon- 
strating the progress of commerce, the arts, and trade, within the hundred 
years of our national life. This spectacle promises to eclipse anything of its 



IF YOU DOplT WANT ANYTHINI^ 

In our line just now, call and examine our stock, 
so that you will know where to buy to the best 
advantage when you need 

FURNITURE, CARPETS, BEDDING,&c. 

We do not claim to have the largest stock in the 
world, nor to sell the finest goods at the price of 
the commonest, but having proper facilities and 
moderate expenses, we can guarantee good value 
for your money. All our goods are marked in 
Plain Figures at Lowest Cash Prices. 

GATELY & WILLIAMS, • • 136 and 138 W. 23i SM, New YorL 



ANTIQUES AND BRIC-A-BRAC, 

295 FIFTH AVENUE, 

REPRESENTING N E\A^ YORK 

B. SELIGMANN, 

109 BELLEVUE AVE., 

Frankfurt a. Main. Newport r. i. 



Program of Celebration — continued. 

character New Yorkers have ever witnessed. Its route will be the same, reversed, 
as that of the military pageant of Tuesday, and will be reviewed by President 
Harrison. Historic scenes of great interest, such as the origin of states, will 
be represented, as, for instance: Virginia, "John Smith and his Party, 1607;" 
New York, " Hendrick Hudson and his Crew, 1609;" Plymouth, Mass., 
" Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1620; " Delaware, Picture of Settlers, 1627 ; 
Maryland, "the Calverts," 1632; Pennsylvania, "William Penn and the 
Quakers, 1682;" Georgia, "the Cavaliers, 1732." Also, First Continental 
Congress, 1774; Declaration of Independence, 1776; Washington and his 
Staff, mounted; Washington Crossing the Delaware, December, 1776; Wash- 
ington at Valley Forge, 1777; Washington Presenting his Resignation, 1783, 
and the Inauguration, 1789. 

One section will represent the German as he came to this country, what 
he brought here and what he has accomplished here. Many wagons will be 
used to carry out the idea, each bearing an allegorical scene, as, for instance : 
A Dutch vessel with emigrants ; emigrant wagons with cattle, etc. ; the farmer 
with his agricultural implements ; the printing press in operation turning out 
an account of the parade for distribution ; the German heroes of the Revolu- 
tion — De Kalb, Von Steuben, etc. ; wagons with emigrants of 1848 ; the intro- 
duction of the wine culture ; the beer-brewing process ; the singers ; the engi- 
neers, and models of the Niagara and East River bridges ; the press ; the 
architectural and sculptural interests ; different groups from Wagner's operas ; 
Columbia and Germania, and, last, the different German costumes. The Ger- 
man athletes will form an escort for the whole section. 

The colossal pageant will include the different industries appropriately 
interspersed together with organizations of many kinds — civic, educational, 
political and charitable; the fire companies will be out with their antique 
goose-necked machines, followed by a battalion of the present force. It is 
estimated that as many, if not more, will participate in this procession as in the 
one of the previous day. 

FIRE WORKS. 

The centennial jubilee will present on the evening of the day a brilliant 
exhibition of fire works in different parts of the city. They will be set off at 
the Bowling Green; at City Hall Park; at Tompkins Square; at Madison 
Square; at Mount Morris Square; at the Plaza at 59th street and 8th avenue; 
at Abingdon Square ; at 86th street and avenue A ; at Washington Heights ; at 
Bryant Park; and various other places. 




66 West 23d Street, New York. 






BON X MARGHE ^ GLOVES ^ AND ^ CORSETS, 

Which are FITTED ON BEFORE BEING PAID FOR, if so desired, are 
manufactured expressly for us and positively guaranteed. 



S. W. RICHARDS, 66 West 23d Street, New York. 




WARNER & KING, 

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IMPORTERS OF 



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SPECIALTIES IN 

BLACK, WHITE AND TINTED ENAMELLED BEDSTEADS. 

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404 Sixth Avenue, - - - NEW YORK. 

BETIVEEN 24tli and 25tli STREETS. 



Committees on the Centennial Celebration. 



GENERAL COMMITTEE, NEW YORK CITY. 



Adams, Charles H. 
Allen, Charles F. 
Anderson, E. Ellery 
Arthur, Chester Alan 
AsTOR, Wm. Waldorf 
AucHMUTY, Richard T. 
Babcock, Samuel D. 
Barnes, John S. 
Barlow, S. L. M. 
Beach, Capt. Warren C. 
Benjamin, Frederick A. 
Beekman, J. W. 
Beekman, Wm. B. 
Belknap, Robert Lennox 
Buss, George 
Bliss, Cornelius N. 
Bird, John H. 
BissEL, William H. 
Borrowe, Samuel 
Boyeson, H. H. 
BowEN, Clarence W. 
Brown, James M. 
Burnet, James J. 
Campbell, Allan 
Cadwalader, John L. 
Cantor, Hon. Jacob A. 
Carter, James C. 
Carleton, Henry Guy 
Cheney, Alfred C. 
Clinton, Alexander James 
Clarkson, Col. Floyd 
Clarkson, Frederick 
Clarkson, Banyer, 
Claflin, John 
Coe, Charles A. 
Conway, Moncure D. 
CoNKLiNG, Alfred R. 

Connor, Washington E. 

Constable, James M. 

Cooper, Edward 

Cochrane, Gen. John 

CouDERT, Frederick R. 

Cruikshank, Edwin A. 

Cruger, S, Van Rensselaer 

Crosby, William Henry 

Cutting, W. Bayard 

Daly, Charles P. 

Dayton, Charles W. 

Davies, Richard T. 

Depew, Chauncey M. 

De Peyster, Frederick J. 

De Lancey, Edward F. 

DeWitt, George G. 

DeWitt, Richard Varick 



Di Cesnola, L. p. 
Dix, Dr. Morgan 
Dodge, W. E. 
Drake, A. W. 
Edson, Franklin 
Ehlers, Edw. M. L. 
Emmet, Thomas Addis 
Erben, Captain Henry 
EvARTS, Wm. M. 
Farragut, Loyall 
Fish, Stuyvesant 
Fish, Hamilton 
Fitzgerald, Louis 
Fisk, Josiah M. 
Ford, Gordon L. 
Gallatin, Frederick 
Gardiner, Asa Bird 
Genet, George Clinton 
Gedney, William H. 
Gerry, Elbridge T. 
Gilder, Richard W. 
Goelet, Ogden 
Goelet, Robert 
Grant, Hugh J. 
Grace, Wm. R. 

Haven, George G. 

Hamilton, Schuyler 

Hamilton, William G. 

Hart, Chas. Henry 

Hanselt, Chas. 

Hewitt, Abram S. 

Hendrichs, Edmund 

HiscocK, Hon. Frank 

Huntington, Daniel 

HusTED, Hon. James W. 

Hyde, Henry B. 

IsHAM, Charles 

IsELiN, Adrian 

Ives, Brayton 

Jackson, Joseph C. 

James, D. Willis 

Jay, William 

Jay, John 

loNES, John D. W. 

Kane, S. Nicholson 

Keese, William Linn 

Kelly, Eugene 

King, John A. 

King, Rufus 

Knox, Alex. 

Knox, John J. 

Lawrence, Frank R. 

Leary, Arthur 

Ledyard, Henry Brockholst 



LeRoy, Henry W. 

Livingston, Johnston, 
Livingston, James Duane 
Low, Seth 
LoEW, Edward V. 
Marquand, Henry G. 
McAllister, Ward 
McCuRDY, Richard A. 
Millet, Frank D. 
Mills, Darius O. 
Moore, Jacob B. 
Moore, Thomas S. 
Montgomery, James M. 
Morris, Gouverneur 
Morris, Louis G. 
Morgan, J. Pierrepont 
Morton. Levi P. 

Myers, Theodore W. 

Newbold, Thomas H. 

NicoLL, De Lancey 

Glin, Stephen H. 

Ottendorfer, Oswald 

Parsons. Charles 

Perry, Oliver H. 

Pendleton, George Hunt 

Pine, John B. 

Pierrepont, John J. 

Plummer, John F. 

Potter, Orlando B. 

Rhinelander, Frederick W. 

Roosevelt, Robert R. 

Roosevelt, Theodore 

Robb, J. Hampden 

Robertson, Wm. H. 

Russell, Chas. H., Jr. 

RuTTER, Robert 

Schall, Robert 

Schell, Edward 

Schermerhorn, F. Augustus 

Schuyler, John 

Schuyler, Philip 

Seligman, Jesse 

Seward, Clarence A. 

Shannon, Robt. H. 

Sherman, Gardiner 

Shultz, Jackson S. 

Sims, Clifford Stanley 

Simmons, J. Edward 

Sloane, John 

Sloane, Wm. D. 

Slote, Henry L. 

Smith, James D. 

Smith, F. Hopkinson, 

Smith, Wm. C. 



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CHICAGO :— Office, Salesroom and Manufactory, Corner Market and Huron Sts., North-Side. Branch Salesroom. 

47 and 49 State Street, South-Side. 
CINCINNATI:— 8, 10 and 12 West Si.xth Street. - - - ST. LOUIS :— 117 North Sixth Street. 

BRANCH OFFICES AND SALESROOMS: 



St. Paul, Minn 844 Jackson St. 

Minneapolis, Minn., ... 121 Washington Ave. North. 

Milwaukee, Wis., 144 West Water St. 

Omaha, Neb., 409 South Tenth St. 

Kansas City, Mo., 410 Delaware St. 

Denver, Col., 1525 Fifteenth St. 



Boston, Mass., 42 to 48 Hanover St. 

Philadelphia, Penn., 1002 ,Arch St. 

Baltimore, Md 11 West Fayette St. 

Pittsburgh, Penn., 117 Fifth Ave. 

Buffalo, New York, 587-589 Main St. 

Cleveland, Ohio, 174 Seneca St. 



Stedman, Edmund Clarence 
Steinway, Wm. 
Stoddard, Richard Henry 
Stokes, Wm. E. D. 
Stuyvesant, Rutherford 
Stewart, Lispenard 
Stanton, Walter 
Stevens, John Austin 
Standish, Miles 
Strong, William L. 
Stuyvesant, Robert 
Tallmadge, Frederick S. 



Tappan, Frederick D, 
TiEMAN, Daniel F. 
Tomlinson, John C. 
Tucker, John J. 
Vanderbilt, Cornelius 
Vanderbilt, Wm. K. 
Van Buren, Travis Coles 
Van Courtland, James S. 
Van Rensselaer, J.Tallmadge 
Varick, John Barnes 
Varnum, James M. 
Warner, Andrew 



Webb, Alexander S. 
Webb, G. Creighton 
Weeks, John A, 
Wiman, Erastus 
Winchester, Locke W. 

WiCKHAM, Wm. H. 

Wilson, Richard T. 
Winthrop, Buchanan 

WiNTHROP, EgERTON L. 

Wilson, James Grant 
Wilson, George 
Wright, Stephen M. 



.^$=3t;<^. 



Committees on the Centennial Celebration, April 30th, 1889, of the Inauguration of 
George Washington as President of the United States. 

ELBRIDGE T. GERRY, Chairman Executive Committee. 
CLARENCE W^, BOWEN, Secretary. 



HAMII.TON FISH, President. 
HUGH J. GRANT, Chairman. 

No. 1.— PLAN AND SCOPE. 

Hugh J. Grant, Chairman, 
Abram S. Hewitt, 
James M. Varnum, 
Cornelius N. Bliss, 
Frederick S. Tallmadge, 
Samuel D. Babcock. 

No. 2.— STATES. 

Wm. G. Hamilton, Chairman, 

James C. Carter, 

John Schuyler, 

J.Tallmadge Van Rensselaer 

James W. Husted, 

Theodore Roosevelt, 

Jacob A. Cantor, 

E. Ellery Anderson, 

Floyd Clarkson, 

Henry W. LeRoy, 

John B. Pine, 

Samuel Burrowe, 

Jas. M. Montgomery, Sec'y. 

No. 3.— GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 

John A. King, Chairman, 
John Jay, 
Edward Cooper, 
Wm. H. Wickham, 
Wm. R. Grace, 
Frederick J. De Peyster, 
Wm. H. Robertson, 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
Wm. M. Evarts, 
Frank Hiscock, 
Seth Low, Secretary. 

No. 4.— ARMY (Military and Indus- 
trial Parade). 

S. Van Rensselaer Cruger, 
John Cochrane, Chairman, 
Locke W. Winchester, 
J. Hampden Robb, 



Frederick Gallatin, 
Frederick D. Tappen, 
John C. Tomlinson, Secretary. 

No. 5.— NAVY. 

ASABlRDGARDINER,C/^<?t>wa«, 

John S. Barnes, 
George G. Haven, 
Jackson S~. Schultz, 
D. Willis James, 
Frederick R. Coudert, 
Capt. Henry Erben, U. S. N. 
Ogden Goelet, 
John Jay Pierrepont, 

LOYALL FaRRAGUT, 

Alfred C. Cheney, 

Buchanan Winthrop, 

S. Nicholson Kane, Secretary. 

No. 6.— ENTERTAINMENT. 

Stuyvesant Fish, Chairman, 
William Waldorf Astor, 
William K. Vanderbilt. 
William Jay, 
Egerton L. Winthrop, 
Robert Goelet, 
gouverneur morris, 
Wm. B. Beekman, 
S. L. M. Barlow, 
Stephen H. Olin, 
Wm. E. D. Stokes, 
Ward McAllister, 

Secretary and Manager. 

No. 7.— FINANCE. 

Brayton Ives, Chairman, 
Darius O. Mills, 
Richard T. Wilson, 
William L. Strong, 
Henry B. Hyde, 
James M. Brown, 
Louis Fitzgerald, 
Allan Campbell, 



John Sloane, 

James D. Smith, 

Edward V. Loew, 

Eugene Kelly, 

Walter Stanton, 

John F. Plummer, 

J. Edward Simmons, 

John Jay Knox, 

De Lancey Nicoll, Secretary. 

No. 8. — RAILROADS AND TRANS- 
PORTATION. 

Orlando B. Votter, Chairman, 
Chauncey M. Depew, 
Erastus Wiman, 
Charles W. Dayton, 

JOSIAH M. FiSK, 

Clifford Stanley Sims, 

Thomas S. Moore, 

Jas. Duane Livingston, Secy. 

No. 9.— ART AND EXHIBITION. 

Henry G. Marquand, Ch'n, 
Gordon L. Ford, Vice- Ch'n. 
Daniel Huntington, 
F. HoPKiNSON Smith, 
William E. Dodge, 
Chas. Parsons, 
A. W. Drake, 
Oliver H. Perry, 
Frank D. Millet, 
H. H. Boyesen, 
Charles Henry Hart, 
Rutherford Stuyvesant, 
John L. Cadwalader, 
Lispenard Stewart, 
Chas. H. Russell, Jr. 
Richard W. Gilder, Secretary. 

No. 10.— LITERARY EXERCISES. 

Elbridge T. Gkkry, Chairman, 
Clarence W. Bowen, Sec'y. 




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SOUVENIR 



OF THE 



Centennial Anniversary of Washington's Inauguration 

April 30, 1789; 



AS 



First President of the United States 
The Birth of the American Republic 



PAPERS BY MRS. MARTHA T. LAMB 

'' I) 

\^Froni the Magazine of American History of December, 1888, February, 1889, 

March, 1889] 

•WITH THE 



Program of Ceremonies 



New York and London 

WHITE and ALLEN 



COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY MRS. MARTHA J. LAMB 




[Original Painting; by Gilbert Stuart in the gallery of Lenox Librarv. 



SOUVBNIR 

OF 

THE GREAT NEW YORK CELEBRATION, 1889. 

Papers by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 



KIRSTT PAPKR. 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1789* 

IT is now almost a hundred years since New York — a city which attends 
so strictly to business as to leave reminiscence almost wholly to her 
neighbors — was the scene of the most sublime ceremonial in human his- 
tory, an affair which up to that time had no parallel on this continent, and 
one which thrilled the whole civilized world. 

The inauguration of Washington in 1789, the centennial anniversary of 
which is about to be celebrated in our great money centre, Wall street, and 
the ushering of a new nation into existence to take its permanent place 
in the great family of nations, were one and the same event. As our 
first President, standing grave and tranquil on the balcony of Federal 
Hall surrounded by a notable group of American heroes, took the 
impressive oath of office, action was given to the intricate machinery of a 
new form of government capable of developing the resources and insuring 
the prosperity, power, and permanence of an immense people. The life 
current of liberty in that supreme moment leaped into a perpetual flow. 

The story of the founding of colonies in America, their coming of age, 
and battles for independence, is irresistibly fascinating. But it has been 
told so often and so well during the last thirteen years of centennial 
uprising — by sections, in detail, as a whole, and with countless variations — • 
that its wonderful and significant sequel only will concern us in this paper. 

Turning the leaf backward to the beginning of April, 1789, we find the 
city of New York — -which was then bold enough to hope that through the 
aid of a kind Providence it might, some happy day in the far-away future, 
reach Canal street — in the attitude of hilarious anticipation. An electrical 
current seemed to have passed through every department of business, and 
every project prospered. Fresh paint, and rents, advanced with unusual 
celerity. A notable French writer says it then cost more to live in New 

* Paper written by special request, and read by the author before the New York Historical 
Society at the opening meeting of the season, October 2, 1888. 

Copyright 1888, by Mrs. Martha J Lamb. 



2 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1789 

York than in France, as the price of board was from four to six dollars a 
week. The old Congress had been holding its sessions in Wall street dur- 
ing the four preceding years. Now all eyes were turned towards the 
coming of new legislators and the consummation of Union. The doctrine 
of state rights fell suddenly into disrepute, and the public mind wondered 
at its own obstinacy in contending for thirteen independent sovereign- 
ties — which would have been eternally counteracting each other. 

The new Congress under the Constitution was to have assembled on 
the 4th of March, but the delegates came slowly. On the 25th of that 
month Fisher Ames, who had arrived some days before, wrote to George 
R. Minot, of Boston : 

" We have 26 representatives ; and as 30 are necessary to make a quorum, we are still 
in a state of inaction. ... I am inclined to believe that the languor of the old Con- 
federation is transfused into the members of the new Congress. This city has not caught 
the spirit, or rather the want of spirit, I am Vexing myself to express to you. Their hall 
will cost ;^20,ooo, York money. They are preparing fireworks, and a splendid barge for 
the President, which last will cost ^^200 to ^300. We lose ^1,000 a day revenue. We 
lose credit, spirit, everything. The public will forget the government before it is born. 
The resurrection of the infant will come before its .birth. Happily the federal interest is 
strong in Congress. The old Congress still continues to meet, and it seems to be doubtful 
whether the old government is dead, or the new one alive. God deliver us speedily from 
this puzzling state, or prepare my will, if it subsists much longer, for I am in a fever to 
think of it." 

It was not until Wednesday, April i, that enough members of the 
House had appeared for a quorum, and the most of these had been 
obliged to make the journey from distant states on horseback or in spring- 
less stages, for it was too early in the season to drag their own chariots 
over the primitive roads, rendered nearly impassable by the March storms, 
and it was not every congressman who had a chariot of his own. They 
came into the city weary and worn, rejoicing to reach a haven where they 
could unpack their crumpled velvets and satins, burnish their shoe-buckles, 
and submit their heads to the barber for style and powder. It is instruct- 
ive to observe the picturesque costumes in which the wise men of that 
day advocated " republican simplicity." Even those who were the most 
pronounced in their censure of aristocratic influences looked sharply after 
the starch in their ruffles, and the status of their hair-dresser. Alexander 
White, one of the representatives from Virginia, who had distinguished 
himself for eloquence and patriotism in the old Congress, and now at the 
age of forty, was one of the most promising characters in the new body, 
wrote on the 1st of April, concerning the situation, naming the candi- 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 3 

dates for the speaker's chair, a letter which through the courtesy of Dr. 
Thomas Addis Emmet, who possesses the original, we are able to give in 
facsimile. 

.A***<— -«*-« "j^^ i/c^-.A^<iz- ^it£^~ ^/c^czf' ^»»u^ ^£ iJ^ ^xJP/vM-ij^*^ 

[fAC-SIjMILE of original in possession of dr. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET.] 

On the 4th of i\pril, Fisher Ames wrote again to Mr. Minot : 

" The House is composed of sober, solid, old-charter folks, as we often say. At least, 
I am sure that there are many such. They have been in government before, and they 
are not disposed to embarrass business, nor are they, for most part, men of intrigue. 
. . . It will be quite a republican assembly. It looks like one. Many who expected 
a Roman senate, when the doors shall be opened, will be disappointed. Admiration will 
lose its feast . . . The Senate will be a very respectable body. Heaven knows 
when they will act. Report is (and has been so these three weeks) that several senators 
are just at hand. P. S. — Sunday, April 5th, Mr. R. H. Lee is arrived, and so the Sen- 
ate has a quorum." 



4 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1789 

The two Houses organized April 6, in the chambers prepared for 
th m m he new Federal Hall in Wall street. This was the old hfetoHc 
Cty Hall, wh.ch had been the seat of legislative affairs in New York f" 
nearly a century, remodeled and complimented with a new name The 
first busmess of Congress was to open and count the votes for President 



•'^'l.^-^ 










[FAC-S,MILE OF ORIGINAL IN POSSESSION Or DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET.] 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 



5 



It was found, as expected, that Washington had received every one. John 
Adams received the majority for Vice-President, 

The next business was to send Charles Thomson to Mount Vernon 
on horseback to communicate the official information to the President- 
elect, and he started on his journey early the next morning. Charles 




Uc 



c^y^c^y 



SECRETARY OF CONGRESS FROM 1774 TO I789. 

Thomson had been since 1774, fifteen years, the sole secretary of Con- 
gress, rendering services of priceless value to the country. He was of 
Irish birth, with a fine classical education, considerable literary talent, and 
at this time was sixty years of age. His wife was Hannah Harrison, a 
sister of President William Henry Harrison's father ; and their daughter, 
Ann Thomson, became the wife of Vice-President Elbridge Gerry. The 



6 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

official messenger to John Adams was Sylvanus Bourne, who at six o'clock 
on the 7th of April sailed in a packet boat, "with a fair wind," for Boston, 
by way of Long Island Sound. The letter of Alexander White, dated 
8th April (in fac-simile), relates to these movements. 

In the mean time all eyes were turned towards the stately edifice in 
Wall street — then the fashionable promenade of the city — which hence- 
forward became the Mecca of every citizen, visitor, and stranger, who 
trod the soil of Manhattan Island. Throngs of ladies and gentlemen, 
dressed in all the brilliant colors and gorgeous costumes of the period, 
jostled each other every pleasant afternoon, and surveyed, with curious 
interest, the massive pillars supporting the four Doric columns and a pedi- 
ment, the ingenious device by which the cornice was arranged to admit 
thirteen stars in the metopes, the American eagle and other insigina in the 
pediment, the tablets over each window with their sculptured thirteen 
arrows entwined with olive branches — all of which combined to give the im- 
posing structure the effect of having been set apart for national purposes. 

Few persons except the members of the new national legislature were 
as yet permitted to enter its portals. The finishing processes had only 
just been concluded. The vestibule was floored with marble, and lighted 
from a richly ornamented dome. The chamber for the representatives 
was of octangular shape, sixty-one feet long and fifty-eight broad, four of 
its sides rounded in the manner of niches, and its arched ceiling forty-six 
feet high in the centre. Its windows were large, and beneath each one 
was a commodious fireplace, the only heating apparatus it possessed for 
the winter season. There were two galleries, a speaker's platform, and a 
separate chair and desk for each member. The chairs were covered with 
light blue damask, and the windows were curtained with the same ma- 
terial. The floor was handsomely carpeted. 

The senate chamber was smaller, and elaborately decorated. In the 
centre of an arched ceiling of light blue was a sun and thirteen stars ; its 
fireplaces were of highly polished variegated American marble, and its 
window curtains and chair coverings of light crimson damask. The Presi- 
dent's chair was elevated three feet above the floor, under a crimson can- 
opy, and the carpet, in excellent taste, harmonized with its gay coloring. 
This hall opened upon a balcony twelve feet deep, which was guarded by 
an iron railing. The portion of that railing between the two central pil- 
lars, before which Washington stood at the supreme moment of his in- 
auguration, is now in the museum of the New York Historical Society, 
and its centre-piece of thirteen arrows invests it with curious interest. 
The balcony overlooked both Wall and Broad streets, and on the memor- 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

y^ifriwt-r^ /■?•■■ f/tr T^LASSACHTJSr.TTS^lACAZDJE, /^fiy, 1j>/f. 



7 




(.ICUn^Ef 



THE FEDERAL HALL IN WALL STREET, IN 1 789. 



able day of Washington's inauguration it was adorned with a canopy and 
curtains of red, interstreaked with white. 

There were numerous other rooms in the building, for various uses — 
a library, lobbies, and committee rooms above, and guard-rooms below ; 
but the legislative halls were the centre of attraction. 

Here were assembled the men of parliamentary talent and social ac- 



8 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

compHshment, for which the first American Congress under the Constitu- 
tion has ever since been justly famous. They were nearly, if not quite 
all, fresh from some public service, local or general ; they were astute, self- 
reliant, influential, opinionated, and conscientiously and vigorously pre- 
pared for whatever serious work might come before them. While Wash- 
ington, summoned to the seat of government by Secretary Thomson, 
approaches New York from Virginia, in his private carriage, let us spend a 
few moments these statesmen, who were present to welcome him, bring- 
ing each one before us for cordial greeting. 

Beginning with the senate, we find two from Massachusetts, Tristam 
Dalton and Caleb Strong, both of whom were Harvard graduates. Dalton 
had studied law for pleasure, but being cumbered with a large fortune 
never had practiced at the bar ; he had, however, served many years in the 
Massachusetts legislature, and now at the age of forty-six, was widely 
known as a highly cultivated Christian gentleman, and one greatly beloved 
for his philanthropic tendencies. Caleb Strong was forty-four, a tall, angu- 
lar, dark-complexioned man, with a large head, hair slightly powdered and 
resting loosely over a high intellectual forehead, with blue eyes of singular 
sweetness and beauty of expression. He was profoundly learned in all 
the varied features of law, inflexible in his adherence to principle, and 
more inattentive to personal elegance of dress than any member of the 
senate. He is best remembered, perhaps, for his high-handed action 
twenty-five years later, when as governor of Massachusetts, during the 
war of 1812, he denied the right of the President, on constitutional grounds, 
to make requisition on the state for the troops. 

There were also two senators from Connecticut, William Samuel John- 
son and Oliver Ellsworth, the former nearly a score of years older than 
the latter. Johnson, a Yale graduate, and one of the most accomplished 
scholars in law, science, and literature, of his time, was now, at the ripe 
age of sixty-one the popular president of Columbia College. He had 
served in the old Congress, and in the convention that framed the Constitu- 
tion.f Oliver Ellsworth, subsequently chief justice of the United States, 
was then forty-three, but marvelously rich in experience for one of his 
years. His education had been completed at the College of New Jersey, 
after two years at Yale, and he had won distinction as a lawyer, in state 
legislation, in the old Congress and as one of the framers of the Constitu- 
tion. He was a well-bred, unassuming man, always self-possessed, cautious, 
and independent in utterance whenever his opinions were once formed. No 
one was more impressive and convincing in debate. 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 9 

The only senator from Virginia was Richard H. Lee, the same who made 
the motion in the Continental Congress of 1776, "that these United Col- 
onies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they 
^re absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that all prac- 
tical connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally dissolved." It is said that his speech on introducing 
this bold measure was one of the most brilliant displays of eloquence ever 
heard. He signed the Declaration of Independence, also the " Articles of 
Confederation," but he opposed the Constitution, believing it would tend 
to destroy the independence of the state governments. His age at this 
time was fifty-six. 

But one senator had, as yet, arrived from South Carolina, Ralph Izard, 
whose grandfather had been one of the founders of that state. Educated 
at the university of Cambridge, Ralph Izard had imbibed foreign tastes, 
which his liberal fortune had enabled him to gratify. He had resided 
many years in Europe, at one time serving Congress as an ambassador to 
the court of the grand duke of Tuscany. He had also, at a great crisis in 
the destiny of America, pledged his large estate for the purchase of ships 
of war. His wife, whom he married in 1767, was the beautiful and accom- 
plished daughter of Peter De Lancey, of New York, whose ancestry 
reached backward among the distinguished families to the very beginnings 
of settlement on Manhattan Island. Her sister, Mrs. John Watts, resided 
in Broadway, near the Bowling Green, and during the first session of this 
first Congress entertained Senator Izard and his family in her spacious 
home. Izard was forty-seven years of age, a brilliant orator, and a cultured 
polished gentleman of the old school. 

Pennsylvania's senators were William Maclay and Robert Morris. The 
great financier was one year younger than the President-elect — fifty-five. 
He was an active man — alive in every fibre — large and florid, bright-eyed 
and pleasant-faced, with a touch of magnetism about him that was very 
effective. He spoke with ease, and whether on the platform or in private 
conversation captivated his audience with a rich fund of political and gen- 
eral information. He signed the Declaration, he helped to frame the 
Constitution, and much m.ore ; but for the magic of his genius in invention, 
our independence, so dearly bought, might never have been maintained.* 

Maryland sent Charles Carroll and John Henry. Carroll was fifty-two, 
refined, scholarly, and a model of dignified deportment. His education 
had been perfected in the best institutions of learning in Europe, and he, 
too, was one of the immortal signers of the Declaration. When the Rev- 

* Robert Morris made the motion by which Washington presided over the Convention. 



lO THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

olution broke out he was considered the richest man in the colonies. He 
lived to see forty years of progress under the Constitution, and at the age 
of ninety laid the corner stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. John 
Henry was a graduate of Princeton, had served in the old Congress, and 
was subsequently governor of Maryland. 

Delaware sent Richard Bassett and George Read. Richard Bassett 
was a lawyer of fine standing, who had been in the old Congress, and in 
the convention that framed the Constitution, and subsequently was gov- 
ernor of Delaware. His daughter married James A. Bayard, and was the 
mother of our present Secretary of State. George Read was a tall, slight, 
graceful man of fifty-six, with a finely shaped head, refined features, and 
dark-brown lustrous eyes. He was distinguished for having signed all 
three of the great state papers on which our history is based — the original 
petition to the king from the Congress of 1774, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and the Constitution — and he helped to conduct public affairs 
in his own state for thirty-five consecutive years.* 

New Jersey's two senators were Dr. Jonathan Elmer and William Pat- 
terson. Dr. Elmer was a practicing physician of distinction, who, after 
graduating with honors from the university of Pennsylvania, devoted him- 
self to study and became renowned for his learning. He was forty-four, 
the same age as William Patterson, who was graduated from Princeton, 
became a lawyer, and commenced his public career in the convention that 
framed the first constitution for New Jersey, in 1776. After filling many 
positions of trust he, in 1791, became governor of New Jersey, and in 1794 
was appointed by Washington one of the justices of the supreme court 
of the United States. 

From New Hampshire we find but one senator, John Langdon, subse- 
quently three times governor of that state, and one of the framers of the 
Constitution — a severely practical republican, of sterling good sense, social 
habits, and pleasing address. It was he who furnished means to equip 
Stark's militia for the battle of Bennington, pledging his plate among 
other personal valuables for the purpose. His descendants intermarried 
with the Astor family of New York. His colleague was Paine Wingate, 
a graduate of Harvard, who studied divinity, and married a sister of Tim- 
othy Pickering. He was a man of talent and extensive knowledge, one 
who commanded universal confidence. Georgia had two senators present, 
James Gunn, who continued in the senate for twelve years, and William 
Few, who married one of the daughters of Commodore James Nicholson, 

*In person George Read was tall, slight, graceful, with a finely-shaped head, refined features, and 
•dark brown lustrous eyes. His manners were dignified and stately. 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1789 



II 




TABLE AND CHAIR USED BY THE FIRST CONGRESS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 

[In possession of the New York Historical Society ^^ 



a sister of Mrs. Albert Gallatin, and became a permanent resident and at 
one time mayor of New York city. The secretary of the senate was Sam- 
uel A. Otis, of Boston, brother of the celebrated James Otis, a Harvard 
graduate, who had seen public life in all its various phases. He married 
the only daughter of Harrison Gray, receiver-general of Massachusetts. 

In the House were men of similar prominence from the several states. 
James Madison and Fisher Ames were the leading party antagonists. Both 
were orators of marked ability, but in different ways. Madison was the 
better logician, Ames possessed the greater imagination. Madison was 
profoundly versed in domestic concerns, financial and political economy. 
Ames reasoned from principles of general policy and constitutional and 
international jurisprudence. Madison was the older by six years — Ames 
was thirty-two. With Madison, from Virginia, came the well-known John 
Page, afterwards governor ; Theodoric Bland, great-grandson of Poca- 
hontas, who was a poet and a scholar as well as a firm patriot ; Richard 
Bland Lee, one of those who subsequently voted for locating the seat of 
government on the Potomac ; Isaac Coles, who was re-elected for six years; 
Alexander White, a racy writer and a brilliant orator, in his fifty-first year, 
whose letters have already been quoted ; Samuel Griffin ; Andrew Moore, 
who served ten years; and Josiah Parker. From South Carolina were 
Thomas T. Tucker, Daniel Huger, and Judge Edanus Burke. From Mary- 
land Daniel Carroll, Benjamin Contee, George Gale, William Smith, 
Michael Stone, and Joshua Seney. 



12 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

The Pennsylvania delegation included George Clymer,* then a man of 
fifty, who had signed both the Declaration and the Constitution — a highly 
educated, refined, and conscientious student, but a very diffident speaker, 
of fair complexion, ardent attachments, and gentle manners — whose opin- 
ions when expressed were always treated with respect, and who was the 
delight of the social circle ; Thomas Fitzsimmons, president of the Phila- 
delphia Chamber of Commerce, and also one of the framers of the Consti- 
tution ; Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, soon to be chosen speaker of the 
House; his brother, Peter Muhlenberg ; Daniel Heister; Thomas Scott, 
and Henry Wynkoop, a member of the Continental Congress, 1779-1783, 
who was noted for his large and commanding figure. There was as yet no 
attendance from Delaware or North Carolina. From Georgia came James 
Jackson and Abraham Baldwin, the latter a young Connecticut lawyer of 
thirty-four, who removed to Georgia, at the request of General Greene, 
about 1784. He was a graduate of Yale, and one of the best classical and 
mathematical scholars of the age. In the Georgia legislature he origi- 
nated the plan of the state university, drew up the charter by which it 
was endowed, and was subsequently its president for some years. New 
Hampshire sent Nicholas Gilman, a boyish-looking but very talented 
young man of twenty-six, who had served in the old Congress and helped 
to frame the Constitution. 

The quartet from New Jersey included Elias Boudinot, the distinguished 
philanthropist ; Lambert Cadwallader, James Schureman, and Thomas Sin- 
nickson, all strong men, morally as well as politically. 

Connecticut was represented by a notable delegation : Roger Sherman, 
Jonathan Trumbull, Jonathan Sturges, Benjamin Huntington, and Jere- 
miah Wadsworth. Roger Sherman was sixty-seven, the oldest member of 
the House, and no one had had a broader experience in legislation. He 
was sent to the first Continental Congress in 1774, and to every subsequent 
Congress to the end of his life. He was the only American statesman who 
attached his name to the entire four great state papers which gave birth 
and power to a mighty empire. Trumbull was the son of the great war 
governor of that name, was forty-nine years of age, had been active and 
influential in state legislation, a paymaster in the army, and secretary and 
aid to Washington and a member of his household at one time for three 
years. He was subsequently speaker of the House, a senator, and gov- 
ernor of Connecticut. 

* George Clymer was the author of various, addresses. and essays, political, literary and scientific. 
His grandson Dr. Meredith Clymer, born ia Philadelphia in June, 181 7, also wrote with great ease, 
chiefly on medical themes. He was>one of the founders of the Franklin Medical College in 1846, 
and after removing to New York in 1851, was professor of medicine in the University of the city of 
New York, and twice President of the New York Society of Neurology. 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1789 I3 

Massachusetts was not behind Connecticut in the quaUty of her dele- 
gation. Fisher Ames, Elbridge Gerry, George Thacher, George Leonard, 
Jonathan Grant, Benjamin Goodhue, and George Partridge were present. 
Elbridge Gerry, as all remember, was one of the signers of the Declaration, 
and he was in the convention that framed the Constitution, but refused 
to afifix his name to the instrument. He was a small, slight, urbane man 
of forty-four, a master in all questions of commerce and of finance, but 
decidedly anti-Federal. He claimed, however, to be neutral and impar- 
tial between the two parties, which course was criticised and denounced 
by Thacher, who was a celebrated \vit, and who made his sensitive col- 
league the perpetual victim of daring humor and biting sarcasm. 

The New York representatives were all men of mark.* Egbert Ben- 
son, the eminent jurist, who had been conspicuous in furthering the 
measures which resulted in the establishment of a general government, 
was one of the leaders among them, and his colleagues were William 
Floyd, who signed the Declaration, John Lawrence, a man of fine 
address and great personal popularity, John Hathorn, subsequently a sen- 
ator and Presidential elector, and Judge Peter Sylvester, who had been 
in the provincial Congress. It must have been a source of keen regret to 
such of the members of this Congress as were unable, for one cause or 
another, to reach their posts of duty prior to the great occasion. 

On the 13th of April, as recorded in the journals of Congress, Egbert 
Benson, from New York, Peter Muhlenberg, from Pennsylvania, and 
Samuel Grififin, from Virginia, were appointed a committee on the recep- 
tion of the President. 

On the 15th, the following resolutions were adopted : 

" That Mr. Osgood, the proprietor of the house lately occupied by the President of 
Congress, be requested to put the same, and the furniture therein, in proper condition for 
the residence and use of the President of the United States, and otherwise, at the expense 
ot the United States, to provide for his temporary accommodation. 

That 3 members of the Senate [Richard Henry Lee, Ralph Izard, Tristam Dalton,] 
and 5 from the house [Elias Boudinot, Theodoric Bland, Thomas T. Tucker, Egbert Benson, 
John Lawrence,] be appointed to attend the President from New Jersey, and conduct him 
without form to the house in New York lately occupied by the President of Congress." 

This house stood in what is now Franklin Square, corner of Cherry 
street, near the present publishing house of Harper & Brothers. But a 
hundred years ago it was esteemed so far out into the country that many 
objections were raised to its being used as a Presidential residence. It 

* Egbert Benson was born in 1746, and was one of the graduates of King's College in 1765, and 
became distinguished for eloquence as a pleader at the bar, and for legal learning. He was the first 
attorney-general of the state, and the first president of the New York Historical Society. 



14 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

was a charming place in summer, overlooking the bay and Long Island, 
with bits of East River peeping through the foliage of its gardens, while 
towards the west and northwest the stretches of landscape were varied 
with sunny slopes, circles of small hills and beautiful valleys. This house 
had been previously occupied by the president of Congress, its owner, 
Samuel Osgood, one of the commissioners of the treasury — subsequently 
postmaster-general — having vacated it temporarily for the benefit of the 
government. 

The "Washington chair" which graces the platform of the audience- 
room of the New York Historical Society, and is occupied by its president 
on public occasions, was made from the wood of this house. It was a 
gift to the society, in 1857, from Mr. Benjamin R. Winthrop, of New York. 
A bust of Washington, in a wreath of laurel, forms the centre ornament 
of the upper part of the chair. The front of the seat bears the escutcheon 
and arms of the United States, while the arms of the city and state of 
New York are carved in relief on medallions. The legend is inscribed on 
a silver plate, inserted in the back of the chair. 

On one of these early days in April, John Armstrong wrote from New 
York to General Gates: "All the world here are busy in collecting flow- 
ers and sweets of every kind to amuse and delight the President in his 
approach and on his arrival. Even Roger Sherman has set his head at 
work to devise some style of address more novel and dignified than 
' Excellency.' Yet in the midst of this admiration there are skeptics who 
doubt its propriety, and wits who amuse themselves at its extravagance." 
How the chief magistrate of the new America should be addressed was 
indeed a conundrum ! The question was no sooner propounded than it 
was discussed everywhere, on the street, in business and in social circles, 
in the halls of legislation, and in the newspapers. It enlivened a dinner 
party one day in Philadelphia, at which were present James Madison, John 
Page, Richard Henry Lee, and other distinguished characters. Chief 
Justice McKean, the master of the feast, maintained with much warmth 
that the President must have a title, and that he had examined all the 
titles of the princes of Europe to find one that had not been appropriated. 
Madison held quite an opposite opinion, and argued that no title except 
that of " President " would be necessary. Congress took the matter up, 
but a joint committee from the two houses were unable to agree. Thus 
the problem was left unsolved until the pleasure of Washington himself 
should become known. 

Meanwhile the chieftain's journey towards New York from Virginia 
was like one continuous triumphal procession. Cities, towns, and villages 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 



15 



vied with each other in doing him honor. Men, women, and children of 
all ages, classes, and conditions gathered by the roadside, and often stood 
in waiting for many hours to see htm as he passed by. Their love was 
manifested in countless impulsive ways — sometimes by shouts, and then 
again by tears. Old men, who had left their plows in the field and tramped 
over the hills and through 
the valleys from distant 
settlements, broke down 
when he appeared and 
sobbed like children. 
Mothers brought their in- 
fant babes from afar, and 
held them high above their 
own heads, so that they 
might say in after life that 
they had actually seen the 
great Washington with 
their little eyes ! The sick 
and the aged were tenderly 
carried to windows and 
doors, that they too might 
behold the *' savior of their 
country." The excitement 
and the sentiment spread 
like a contagion. Soldiers 
were paraded in the towns 
through which he was to 
pass with as much apparent 
promptitude as if railroads 
and the telegraph had al- 
ready been invented. Guns 
were fired, triumphal arches 
were erected, not infre- 
quently stretched from tree 
to tree in rural districts, and 

flowers were strewn in the roads over which his carriage was to pass. It 
was the general outburst of the warmest and most devoted attachment of a 
loyal people. At Gray's Ferrj', across the Schuylkill, the President-elect 
was escorted through long avenues of laurels, transplanted from the forests 
for the occasion, bridged overhead with arches of laurel branches. As he 




THE WASHINGTON CHAIR. 



l6, THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

passed under the last arch a beautiful civic crown of laurel was ingeniously 
dropped upon his head from above, greatly to his surprise, and the most 
deafening shouts arose from the immense multitude. At Trenton a mag- 
nificent triumphal arch had been erected, and above it the date of his 
victory at Trenton in gold lettering, around which flowers were grace- 
fully entwined ; and, as he passed under this, thirteen lovely young girls 
in white stepped in ahead, and marched before him singing an appropri- 
ate ode, while at the same time they scattered flowers in his pathway in 
great profusion from baskets which they carried on their arms. It was 
a lovely, graceful tribute, and Washington was very much touched by it. 

During these same long-to-be-remembered days John Adams, the Vice- 
President-elect, was approaching New York from New England. " On 
Monday, the 20th of April," says one of the writers of the day, " amidst 
the acclamations of all ranks of citizens. His Excellency, John Adams, 
Esq., Vice-President of the United States, arrived in New York. The 
cavalcade which escorted His Excellency into the city was numerous 
and truly respectable. From the Connecticut line to Kingsbridge he 
was attended by the light horse of West Chester County, under the com- 
mand of Major Pintard. At Kingsbridge he was met by General Malcom 
with the officers of his brigade, and the city troop of horse, commanded 
by Captain Stakes ; also by officers of distinction, many members of Con- 
gress, and a large number of citizens in carriages and on horseback. 
His Excellency alighted at the home of the Honorable John Jay, in 
Broadway, where the committee of both houses of Congress, appointed 
for that purpose, attended to congratulate His Excellency on his arrival." 

It will be observed that the custom of addressing a man in high 
ofifice as " His Excellency," had not yet been abolished, as the title is 
used four times in this one paragraph. But the next day, when a com- 
mittee from the senate, consisting of Caleb Strong and Ralph Izard, con- 
ducted Mr. Adams to the senate chamber, he was received by John Lang- 
don, the president /r^ tern., with graceful courtesy, and introduced to the 
chair and the senate simply as " Vice-President of the United States of 
America." 

New York was astir early on the morning of Wednesday, April 23, 
and the booming of cannon and the ringing of bells proclaimed the glad 
tidings that Washington was in Elizabethtown. Business was entirely 
suspended, and the excitement was intense. At Elizabethtown Point the 
President-elect was received, as previously arranged, by the committee 
from Congress, of which Elias Boudinot was chairman, and by the heads 
of the departments under the confederation — who continued to act until 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 17 

the new government should be organized — John Jay, Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs, General Knox, Secretary of War, Robert R. Livingston, chancellor 
of the state of New York, Samuel Osgood, Arthur Lee, and Walter Liv- 
ingston, commissioners of the treasury, Ebenezer Hazard, postmaster- 
general — and by the mayor and recorder of the city. An extraordinary 
barge, constructed for the specific purpose, was in waiting for its distin- 
guished passenger, manned by thirteen masters of vessels in white uni- 
forms, and commanded by Commodore James Nicholson. In this Wash- 
ington was conveyed to the Capital. As it moved slowly from the Jer- 
sey shore other barges fancifully decorated fell into line. The glittering 
procession glided through the narrow strait between New Jersey and 
Staten- Island, when, as if by magic, dozens of boats, gay with flags and 
streamers, dropped into its wake ; and as it was passing Bedlow's Island a 
sloop under full sail came alongside the President's barge, upon which 
were twenty-five ladies and gentlemen singing an ode composed for the 
occasion to the stirring music of " God Save the King." Another and a 
smaller vessel was presently on the other side of the barge, distributing 
sheets of a second ode, written to welcome the great chief to the seat of 
government, and which a group of a dozen gentlemen commenced singing 
with great effect. Every vessel was in holiday attire ; the Spanish ship 
of war, Galveston, just as the barge came abreast of her, displayed, instan- 
taneously, every flag and signal known among nations. All the vessels 
saluted the barge as it passed, and bands of music on every side, and per- 
petual huzzas filled the air, while over the whole exhilarating scene the 
sunshine fell from cloudless heavens. 

Governor George Clinton, of New York, received the President-elect at 
the ferry stairs, which were carpeted and the rails hung with crimson, 
and as Washington's tall figure was seen ascending them, and his foot 
touched the shore of the flourishing city which his own valor and military 
skill had recovered from a powerful enemy, popular enthusiasm reached 
its climax. The wildest and the most prolonged cheers rent the air. Men 
shouted until they lost their voices. The crowds were so densely packed 
that it required a large force of city officers to make a passage for Wash- 
ington and his party. Colonel Morgan Lewis, aided by Majors Morton and 
Van Home, led the way, and the various regiments were followed by the 
officers of the militia, two and two, the committee of Congress, the Presi- 
dent-elect with Governor Clinton, the heads of the Departments, the 
mayor and aldermen of the city, the clergy, the foreign ministers, and an 
immense concourse of citizens. Every house on the route was decorated 
with banners, garlands of flowers, and evergreens. Every window, to the 



1 8 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

highest story, was filled with fair women and brave men. Every inanimate 
object seemed alive with the waving of handkerchiefs and hats. Flowers 
fell in the streets, apparently from the skies, like snow-flakes in a blizzard. 
In every possible form of unique device and ingenious ornamentation the 
the name of WASHINGTON was suspended from roof to roof, and upon 
fanciful arches constructed for the occasion. The multitude cheered and 
shouted, and the bells and the guns caught up the echoes, and with cease- 
less clamor and deafening din proclaimed the universal rapture. 

Upon reaching the Franklin House, Washington despite the fatigue of 
his journey, expressed his willingness to receive such gentlemen as had 
expressed a desire to show their respect in the most affectionate manner. 
He stood in the great drawing-room of his new home and was welcomed 
and congratulated by foreign ministers, political characters, public bodies, 
military celebrities, and many private citizens of distinction. " And then,'* 
wrote Elias Boudinot, "we dined with his Excellency Governor Clinton, 
who had provided an elegant dinner for us. Thus ended our commission." 
In the evening the entire city was brilliantly illuminated. 

The six days between Washington's arrival and his inauguration were 
devoted to the perfection of arrangements for the imposing ceremonies of 
his inauguration. We find in the journal of the House the following 
entries : 

" April 24. The committee reported that they had attended the President from EHzabeth- 
tovvn yesterday to this city, where they arrived at 3 o'clock, P.M., and conducted him to 
the house appointed for his residence. 

April 25. The house appointed Mr. Egbert Benson, Mr. Fisher Ames and Mr. Charles 
Carroll a committee to act with the senate committee on the inauguration." 

In the journal of the Senate it is recorded: 

"Senate, April 23, 1789. A committee appointed of three members (Mr. Richard 
Henry Lee, Mr. Ralph Izard and Mr. Tristam Dalton) to consider the time, place and man- 
ner in which, and the person by whom, the oath presented by the Constitution shall be 
administered to the President, and to confer with a committee of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

Saturday, April 2^. The committee report that the President hath been pleased to 
signify to them, that any time or place which both houses may think proper to appoint, 
and any manner which shall appear most eligible to them, will be convenient and accept- 
able to him, that requisite preparations cannot probably be made before Thursday next 
(April 30), that the President be on that day formally received by both houses in the Sen- 
ate Chamber, that the Representatives' Chamber being capable of receiving the greater 
number of persons, that, therefore, the President do take the oath in that place, and in the 
presence of both houses. 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 I9 

That, after the formal reception of the President in the Senate Chamber, he be 
attended by both houses to the Representatives' Chamber, and that the oath be adminis- 
tered by the Chancellor of the state of New York. That a committee of both iiouses be 
appointed to take order for conducting the business. Mr. Lee, Mr. Izard and Mr. Dalton 
were appointed such committee on behalf of the senate. 

The Right Rev. Samuel Provoost was elected chaplain to Congress. 

Monday, April 27. The committee reported tliat it appears to them more eligible 
that the oath should be administered to the President in the outer gallery adjoining the 
Senate Chamber than in the Representatives' Chamber. Approved. 

Resolved, That after the oath shall have been administered to the President, he, 
attended by the Vice-President, and the members of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, proceed to St. Paul's Chapel to hear divine service, to be performed by the chaplain of 
Congress already appointed." 

Meanwhile the city opened its doors for the entertainment of guests 
from every part of the Union. The crush was bewildering. New York 
had never before housed and sheltered a gathering of such magnitude. 
And thousands were neither housed nor sheltered, content to camp in 
vacant lots, on the curb stones, or in the fields above the city. Miss 
Bertha Ingersoll wrote to Miss McKean, of Philadelphia, " We shall 
remain here if we have to sleep in tents, as many will have to do. Mr. 
Williamson had promised to engage us rooms at Fraunces' Tavern, but 
that was jammed long ago, as was every other decent public house ; and 
now while we are waiting at Mrs. Vandervoort's in Maiden Lane, until after 
dinner, two of our beaux are running about town, determined to obtain 
the best places for us to stay at which can be opened for love, money, or 
the most persuasive speeches." Another young lady, from Boston, wrote 
a graphic description of a series of accidents on her journey from that city 
to New York, with her picturesque adventures in finding accommodations 
in the metropolis, and added : " but I have seen him ! and though I had 
been entirely ignorant that he was arrived in the city, I should have known 
at a glance that it was General Washington ; I never saw a human being 
that looked so grand and noble as he does. I could fall down on my 
knees before him and bless him for all the good he has done for this 
country." 

This feeling seemed to be universal. Everybody struggled for a 
glimpse of the great general. The aged declared their readiness to die if 
they could but once behold his face. The young were intoxicated with 
infatuation. 

On the 29th the committee reported their scheme for the conduct of 
the inaugural ceremonies on the 30th, which proving satisfactory, a few 
copies were printed on foolscap sheets for the convenience of those par- 



20 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

ticipating. Gne of these has been preserved and is now the property of 
the New York Historical Society, through whose courtesy it is given ver- 
batim to our readers as an illustration of the significance with which 
details were regarded at that period. 

"April 29th, 1789. The committees of both houses of Congress, appointed to take 
order for conducting the ceremonial of the formal reception, &c., of the President of the 
United States, on Thursday next, have agreed to the following order thereon, viz. : 

That General Webb, Colonel Smith, Lieutenant Colonel Fish, Lieut. Col. Franks, 
Major L'Enfant, Major Bleecker, and Mr. John R. Livingston, be requested to serve as 
assistants on the occasion. 

That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the President of the United States, 
That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the Vice-President, to the right of the 
President's chair ; and that the Senators take their seats on that side of the chamber on 
which the Vice-President's chair shall be placed. That a chair be placed in the Senate 
Chamber for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the left of the President's 
chair — and that the Representatives take their seats on that side of the chamber on which 
the Speaker's chair shall be placed. 

That seats be provided in the Senate Chamber sufficient to accommodate the late 
president of Congress, the governor of the Western territory, the five persons being the 
heads of three great departments, the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, the Encargado 
de negocios of Spain, the chaplains of Congress, the persons in the suite of the President, 
and also to accommodate the following Public Officers of the State, viz. : The Governor, 
the Lieutenant-Governor, the Chancellor, the Chief Justice, and other judges of the Su- 
preme Court, and the Mayor of the city. That one of the assistants wait on these gentle- 
men, and inform them that seats are provided for their accommodation, and also to signify 
to them that no precedence of seats is intended, and that no salutation is expected from 
them on their entrance into, or their departure from, the Senate Chamber. 

That the members of both houses assemble in their respective Chambers precisely at 
twelve o'clock, and that the representatives preceded by the Speaker, and attended by 
their clerk, and other officers, proceed to the Senate Chamber, there to be received by 
the Vice-President and the senators rising. 

That the Committees attend the President from his residence to the Senate Chamber, 
and that he be there received by the Vice-President, the senators and representatives 
rising, and be by the Vice-President conducted to his chair. 

That after the President shall be seated in his chair, and the Vice-President, senators 
and representatives shall be again seated, the Vice-President shall announce to the Presi- 
dent, that the members of both houses will attend him to be present at his taking the 
Oath of Office required by the Constitution. To the end that the Oath of Office may be 
administered to the President in the most public manner, and that the greatest number 
of the people of the United States, and without distinction, may be witnesses to the 
solemnity, that therefore the Oath be administered in the outer gallery adjoining to the 
Senate Chamber. 

That when the President shall proceed to the gallery to take the Oath, he be attended 
by the Vice-President, and be followed by the Chancellor of the State, and pass through 
the middle door, that the Senators pass through the door on the right, and the Represen- 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, I789 21 

tatives, preceded by the Speaker, pass through the door on the left, and such of the per- 
sons who shall have been admitted into the Senate Chamber, and may be desirous to go 
into the gallery, are then also to pass through the door on the right. That when the 
President shall have taken the Oath, and returned into the Senate Chamber, attended by 
the Vice-President, and shall be seated in his chair, that the Senators and the Represen- 
tatives also return into the Senate Chamber, and that the Vice-President and they resume 
their respective seats. 

Both houses having resolved to accompany the President after he shall have taken the 
Oath, to St. Paul's Chapel, to hear divine service, to be performed by the chaplain of Con- 
gress, that the following order of procession be observed, viz. The door-keeper and 
messenger of the House of Representatives. The clerk of the House. The Representa- 
tives. The Speaker. The President, with the Vice-President at his left hand. The Sen- 
ators. The Secretary of the Senate. The door-keeper, and messenger of the Senate. 

That a pew be reserved for the President — Vice-President — Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, and the Committees ; and that pews be also reserved sufficient for the 
reception of the Senators and Representatives 

That after divine service shall be performed, the President be received at the door of 
the Church, by the Committees, and by them attended in carriages to his residence. 

That it be intrusted to the assistants to take proper precautions for keeping the ave- 
nues to the Hall open, and that for that purpose, they wait on his Excellency the Governor 
of this State, and in the name of the Committees request his aid, by an order of 
recommendation to the Civil Officers, or militia of the city, to attend and serve on the 
occasion, as he shall judge most proper." 

A national salute ushered in the morning of April 30. At nine o'clock 
the bells peeled merrily from every steeple in the city — then softened sud- 
denly, and in slow measured tones summoned the people to the churches, 
showing how general was the religious sense of the importance of the 
occasion. From one of the newspapers of the day we clip the following 
paragraph : 

" April 30. We have had this day one of those impressive sights which dignify and 
adorn human nature. At nine o'clock all the churches in the city were opened, and the 
people in prodigious numbers thronged these sacred temples — and with one voice put up 
their prayers to Almighty God for the safety of the President," 

At the close of these solemn exercises, just as the people were leaving 
the churches, the procession formed, the military marching from their 
respective quarters with inspiring music and unfurled banners to Franklin 
Square, where they halted in front of the Presidential mansion. One of 
the newspapers records : 

" About twelve o'clock the procession moved from the house of the President, in 
Cherry street, through Queen, Great Dock and Broad streets to the Federal State House 
in Wall street in the following order ; 



22 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 



Col. Morgan Lewis, 
Attended by two officers. 

Capt. Stakes, 

With the Troop of Horse. 

Artillery. 

Maj. Van Horne. 

Grenadiers, under Capt. Harsin." 

These, in imitation of the guard of the great Frederick, were composed 
of the tallest and finest-looking young men of New York, and they were 
dressed in blue coats with red facings and gold lace embroideries, cocked 
hats with white feathers, and white waistcoats and breeches, and black 
spatterdashes buttoned close from the shoe to the knee. 

"German Grenadiers, very gayly attired, under Capt. Scriba. 

Major Bicker. 

The Infantry of the Brigade. 

Major Chryslie. 

Sheriff. 

Committee of the Senate. 



Assistants. 



President-elect, 

In a chariot drawn by four horses. 

His Suite. 



I i 

I 

Assistants. !- 2 

I a 

J ? 



Committee of the Representatives. 

Hon. Mr. Jay, Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 

Gen. Knox, Secretary of War. 

Chancellor Livingston. 

Several gentlemen of distinction." 

When within a proper distance of the Federal Hall the troops formed 
a line on both sides of the way, and having alighted, Washington passed 
through and was conducted to the senate chamber in the ceremonious 
manner described in the programme, 

Vice-President Adams said, " Sir, the Senate and the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States are ready to attend you to take the oath 
required by the Constitution, which will be administered by the chancellor 
of the state of New York." 

** I am ready to proceed," was Washington's reply. 

The Vice-President then conducted Washington to the balcony, the gen- 
tlemen accompanying in the order prescribed. From this point, Broad and 
Wall streets, in each direction, was a compact mass of upturned faces, as 
silent as if every living form which composed the vast assemblage had been 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 



23 



a statue carved in stone. The windows and house tops as far as the eye 
could reach were also crowded with people. They saw Washington's com- 
manding'figure appear in the centre of a group of statesmen between the 
two pillars, clad in a complete suit of elegant broadcloth of American 
manufacture, with white silk stockings, also a native production, plain 
silver buckles in his shoes, his head uncovered, and his powdered hair 
gathered and tied in the prevailing fashion of the day. He stepped upon 
a stone, slightly elevated above those about him. On one side of him 
was Chancellor Livingston, nearly as tall as himself, on the other Vice- 
President Adams, more showily dressed than either, and like Washington 
entirely in American fabrics. Samuel A. Otis, the secretary of the senate, 




CENTRAL SECTION OF THE HISTORIC RAILING. 

[/^ro»i the original in possession o/ the New York Historical Society. \ 



stood partially between Washington and the chancellor, holding an open 
Bible upon a rich crimson cushion, upon which Washington rested his 
hand. In the rear, conspicuous among those who were dear and familiar 
to the people, stood Secretary John Jay, who had done so much towards 
bringing about this grand result, a tall slight man whose face and attitude 
expressed the calm serenity and refined power of the highest type of 
character; the brave General Knox, who so well understood the man whom 
the country delighted to honor; Baron Steuben, Alexander Hamilton, 
Governor St. Clair of the Northwest Territory, Roger Sherman, and all 
that army of Congressional celebrities heretofore mentioned. A gesture 
of the chancellor arrested the close attention of the vast assemblage as he 
pronounced slowly and distinctly the words of the oath. Then the Bible 



24 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

was raised, and as the President bowed to kiss the sacred volume he said 
audibly, " I swear," adding with fervor, his eyes closed, that his whole 
soul might be absorbed in the supplication, " SO HELP ME GOD," 

"It is done," said the chancellor; then turning to the multitude, he 
waved his hand, crying in a loud voice, 

" Long live George Washington, President of the United States." 

Silence was at an end. A flag was instantly displayed on the cupola 
of Federal Hall, and all the bells in the city broke forth in one tumultuous 
clamor. Shouts and acclamations burst from the waiting thousands, and 
repeated again and again like the cuckoo song, were answered and re- 
answered by cannon from every point of the compass upon both land 
and upon water, until it seemed as if the city would be jarred from its 
actual foundations. 

Even now at the end of a century, who among us, however prosaic, 
can be brought into a close review of this creative epoch in the history of 
our nation and of the nations of the world without a draught from the 
same ecstatic fountain of emotion? 

Washington with his attendants returned to the senate chamber, where 
after Congress and the other dignitaries present were seated, he delivered 
a short inaugural address. After this the new President, accompanied by 
both houses of Congress and the heads of the Departments, and many 
other distinguished characters, proceeded on foot to St. Paul's Chapel in 
Broadway, where divine service was performed by Bishop Provost, at the 
conclusion of which the President was escorted to his own house. 

Fisher Ames, in writing to Mr. Minot in Boston a few days afterward, 
said : 

"I was present in the pew with the President, and must assure you that, after making 
all deductions for the delusion of one's fancy in regard to characters, I still think of him 
with more veneration than for any other person. Time has made havoc upon his face. 
That, and many other circumstances not to be reasoned about, conspire to keep up the 
awe which I brought with me. He addressed the two houses in the senate chamber; it 
was a very touching scene, and quite of the solemn kind ; his aspect grave, almost to sad- 
ness ; his modesty, actually shaking ; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to 
call for close attention ; added to the series of objects presented to the mind, and over- 
whelming it, produced emotions of the most affecting kind upon the members. I, Pilgar- 
lic, sat entranced. It seemed to me an allegory in which virtue was personified, and 
addressing those whom she would make her votaries. Her power over the heart was 
never greater, and the illustration of her doctrine by her own example was never more 
perfect." 

In the evening the city was illuminated with unparalleled splendor. 
Every public building was in a blaze of light. The front of the little 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 



25 



theatre in John street 
was filled with trans- 
parencies, one of which 
represented Fame like 
an angel, descending 
from Heaven to crown 
Washington with the 
emblems of immortal- 
ity. At the Bowling 
Green was an enormous 
transparency, with 
Washington's portrait 
in the centre, under a 
figure of " Fortitude," 
and the two branches 
of the new government 
represented upon his 
right and left, under the 
forms of Justice and 
Wisdom. All the pri- 
vate residences of the 
city were brilliantly 
lighted, but none 
more effectively than 
those of the French and 
Spanish ministers, who 
. seemed to have tried to 
rival each other. They 
both lived in Broad- 
way, near the Bowling 
Green. The doors and 
windows of the French 
minister's mansion 
were bordered with lamps, which shone upon numerous paintings sug- 
gestive of the past, the present, and the future of American history— 
from the brush of his artist sister. The principal transparency in front of 
the Spanish minister's house contained figures of the Graces artistically 
executed amid a pleasing variety of emblems ; and in the windows were 
moving pictures so skillfully devised as to present the illusion of a living 
panorama in a little spot of fairyland. One of the ships at anchor off 




STATUE OF WASHINGTON IN WALL STREET. 

[Erected by the New York Chamber 0/ Commerce, 1883.] 



26 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

the Battery is said to have resembled a pyramid of stars. The display of 
fire-works, under the direction of Colonel Bauman, was the finest this 
country had ever yet seen. President Washington drove from his resi- 
dence in Franklin Square to that of Chancellor Livingston in the lower 
part of Broadway, from whose windows he had a full view of the cheering 
spectacle. 

Henceforward Washington was the observed of all observers. He was 
fifty-seven at this important epoch in his career, with a character so well 
rounded, firm and true, kindly and sweet, kingly and grand, as to remain 
through all subsequent history unshaken as the air when a boy wings his 
arrow into it. His wonderful figure was neither unreal nor marble. He 
stood six feet three inches in his slippers, was splendidly proportioned, 
evenly developed, and straight as an arrow. He had a long muscular arm 
and probably the largest hands of any man in New York. His uniform 
gravity and his marvelous will-power seem to have most attracted the 
attention of the world, which were indeed but the index to a manly self- 
poise founded upon the most perfect self-control. His enthusiastic wel- 
come to the Presidential chair, by the people of all classes without any 
division of interest, reads in this age like a poem ; yet he was able to 
meet it with unrufifled composure. He had come to the front when there 
was an ocean of problems to solve — of forms and ceremonies to be 
adjusted. But industry was one of his cardinal virtues, and he did not 
seek to be afflicted with waste moments. His personal influence tied as 
with a knot of steel the conflicting forces together. He was dignified 
even to a lofty reserve, while at the same time his irresistible magnetism 
disproves the notion that he was cold and unsympathetic. His breeding 
was that of a gentleman, he was fond of society, conversed well, enjoyed 
humor in a quiet way, and was sensitive to the beauty and open to the 
appeal of a good story. 

If' there is anyone locality in this country more than another where 
the memory of Washington should be cherished, and his glorious deeds 
honored, it is New York City, the scene of his severest trials, and of his 
most brilliant triumphs. 

The 50th anniversary of his inauguration was celebrated by the New 
York Historical Society, April 30, 1839 — the accomplished John Quincy 
Adams, ex-President of the United States, delivering an able and eloquent 
address on the occasion. In 1880, the Chamber of Commerce of New 
York initiated a movement to erect a colossal figure in bronze of Wash- 
ington on the steps of the sub-treasury building in Wall street, which 
stands upon the exact site of old Federal Hall, and Hon. S. B. Chittenden, 



THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1789 2/ 

member of Congress, secured the necessary legislation to authorize its 
erection and subsequent care by the United States. The necessary money 
was soon raised, and the work was executed by the eminent sculptor, 
John Q. A. Ward. Under date of November i, 1883, the following peti- 
tion was addressed : 

" To the Honorable the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of New York : 

The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York respectfully represents that, 
pursuant to an Act of Congress, the Chamber is now erecting, on the steps of the Sub- 
Treasury, Wall street, corner of Nassau, a statue of Washington, to commemorate his 
taking the oath at that place, April 30, 1789, as the tirst President of the United States of 
America. That the Chamber is informed that the balcony and the stone upon which he 
stood, on that occasion, are now in Bellevue Hospital, where they have been carefully 
preserved. This balcony and stone, your memorialists are further informed, are the 
property of the City of New York ; they therefore respectfully represent to your honorable 
body the peculiar propriety of incorporating these interesting relics in the monument, and 
pray that your honorable body will direct the delivery of the same to Mr. Richard M. 
Hunt, the architect, in order for their safe transfer. In their new position they will be an 
additional reminder to countless numbers of the great historical event, which they have 
already commemorated, for centuries to come." 

The response was in the af^rmative, and the statue was therefore 
placed upon the identical stone upon which Washington stood when he 
took the solemn oath of ofifice, " a stone which will remain in the eyes of 
all men, an imperishable memorial of the scene." The time chosen for 
the unveiling of this statue, and its presentation to the national govern- 
ment, was the 25th of November, 1883, the one hundredth anniversary of 
Washington's triumphal entrance into New York City, after its long occu- 
pation by hostile forces. The ceremonies took place in the midst of a 
drenching rain. George W. Lane, president of the Chamber of Commerce, 
introduced Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs who offered an appropriate prayer. 
Royal Phelps, in behalf of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce, 
reported the complete fulfillment of its duties respecting the work^ then 
Governor Cleveland of New York unveiled the statue, and President 
Arthur accepted it in behalf of the government of the United States. An 
eloquent address was then delivered by George William Curtis, and the 
benediction was pronounced by Right Reverend Henry C. Potter, Bishop 
of New York. 

The movement to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Wash- 
ington's Inauguration, on April 30, 1889, which emanated from a resolu- 
tion adopted by the New York. Historical Society some four years since, 
has already assumed vast proportions. The strength of such historic 
bodies as the Chamber of Commerce, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Sons 



28 THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, 1 789 

of the Revolution, and the New York Historical Society, is already united 
in a grand committee of citizens, thoroughly alive to the magnitude and 
importance of the celebration in prospect. The precise spot, the point of 
national interest on this approaching anniversary, is appropriately owned 
and occupied by the national government. Its location in the throbbing 
heart of the great city, the financial nerve-centre of a continent, is in itself 
significant, for America offers no place more becoming for these august 
ceremonies, or more conspicuously, honorably, or intimately identified 
with the history of American liberty. 

In the language of George William Curtis, " The task upon which 
Washington entered here was infinitely greater than that which he under- 
took, when, fourteen years before, he drew his sword under the elm at 
Cambridge as commander-in-chief of the American army. To lead a 
people in revolution wisely and successfully, without ambition and with- 
out a crime, demands, indeed, lofty genius and unbending virtue. But to 
build their state — amid the angry conflict of passion and prejudice and 
unreasonable apprehension, the incredulity of many, and the grave doubt 
of all, to organize for them and peacefully to inaugurate a complete and 
satisfactory government — is the greatest service that a man can render to 
mankind. This also is the glory of Washington. His countrymen are 
charged with fond idolatry of his memory, and his greatness is pleasantly 
depreciated as a mythologic exaggeration. But no church ever canonized 
a saint more worthily than he is canonized by the national affection, and 
to no ancient hero, benefactor, or lawgiver, were divine honors ever so 
justly decreed as to Washington the homage of the world," 

The music of Centennial bells has been ringing in our ears from all 
parts of the country for nearly a decade and a half. New York now has 
the opportunity of ringing her own bells, in honor of the most majestic, 
far-reaching, and interesting event that ever was celebrated on this or any 
other continent, and we trust the music will be melody indeed. 





THE WASHINGTON PEW IN ST. PAUl's CHAPCL. 

\ The pe^ in -Which Washington vjorshiped in St. Paul's Cha/>el is on the north side of the chapel under the 
gallery about half-way between the chancel and the vestry room. Directly opposite tt on the south side of the 
chapel is the pew then occupied by Governor George Clinton.} 

Engraved by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb for the Magazine of American History of February, 1888. 




PRBSIDENT WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY, I789-I790. 



SKCOND PAPKR. 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-1790 

NEW YORK CITY THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT 

FROM the beginning of his Presidential career in New York city 
Washington exercised each day in the open air, sometimes on horse- 
back, then in his chariot or post-chaise, and often walked for an hour or 
two. The little city that posed before the world as the capital of the 
new nation, rejoiced in his stately presence — was literally enraptured with 
undisguised admiration. 

The New York of 1789 was but a mere speck on the map in comparison 
with the New York of 1889. The Brick Church, with its little grave-yard 
in front, then standing on the site of the old building of the New York 
Times, was at the upper limits of the city proper ; a smooth, clear, beauti- 
ful, miniature inland sea, sixty feet deep, known as Fresh Water Pond, 
spread over nearly four blocks of territory in the vicinity of the Tombs in 
Centre Street ; while a series of swampy fields to the northwest, in the 
region of what is now Canal Street to the Hudson River, gave little 
promise of future value. At a club dinner in the winter of that year, 
some imaginative individual incurred overwhelming ridicule by suggesting 
the propriety of purchasing the pond for a prospective park ! Capitalists 
had no faith in any wild visionary scheme of that character; New York 
city, in their judgment, would never have occasion to extend itself thus 
far into the country. Water was supplied to the citizens from the old Tea 
Water Pump, near the head of Pearl Street, in water-carts which paraded 
the streets daily, selling ** good fresh drinking water" at so much per cask 
or gallon. Milkmen, with yokes on their shoulders from which tin cans 
were suspended, traversed the town in the early morning shouting, " milk, 
ho! " Negro boys went their rounds about the same hour seeking chim- 
neys to sweep. Hickory wood was the principal article of fuel, and wood- 
sawing paraphernalia ornamented the street corners and other convenient 
places at all hours of the day. Every citizen attended to the sweeping of 
the street in front of his house twice a week ; and in the evening the 

31 



32 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-I79O 

principal thoroughfares were lighted with oil lamps. The city itself had a 
unique appearance. Antique churches with moss-covered roofs and grassy 
church-yards, dwelling-houses of all sizes and varieties, small hotels, stores, 
gardens, blacksmiths' shops, great ware-houses, trees, trailing vines, rose- 
bushes, and markets, flourished in neighborly juxtaposition. Every New 
York family of any pretension to affluence owned slaves — in all the news- 
papers of the day advertisements may be noticed of negroes for sale, and 
of runaways. The community embraced many excellent, well-educated, 
and highly cultivated people, as well as the most diverse elements from 
other places and countries. The first congress added to the population 
its group of heroic statesmen who were to make the age illustrious. 

The infant republic was marvelously interesting even while it was 
learning to walk, and the city in which it was cradled, petted and nour- 
ished it with intense pride. Republicanism was a novelty, and some very 
extraordinary expectations prevailed. There never had been a President 
before, on this continent, nor any chief magistrate of the people. It was 
popularly supposed that he would be accessible at all times to all citizens. 
The throngs were self-respectful, as if under the spell of some powerful 
fascination, whenever Washington rode or walked in the streets. He was 
not followed nor his movements obstructed, as far as can be learned, by 
rude sight-seeing mobs. But the public knew exactly when he left his house 
each day, which direction he took for his outing, and when he returned 
home — and the rush to gain admittance to an interview, the besieging of 
his door, was the first serious difificulty he encountered. He believed it 
his duty to see every caller on proper occasions and for reasonable 
purposes. But he had work before him, and must secure time to accom- 
plish it. To establish a system of special days for receptions was a deli- 
cate undertaking. John Adams, who had seen much of foreign courts, 
was inclined to chamberlains and masters of ceremony; John Jay was 
anxious to do away with the flavor of courts, and favored " republican 
simplicity ; " Alexander Hamilton was for maintaining the dignity of the 
presidential office, but recommended the utmost caution lest too high a 
tone shock the popular notions of equality. All felt that confused theo- 
ries must not be roughly jarred. Washington finally appointed Tuesday 
afternoons from three o'clock until four for the reception of visits of 
courtesy. No invitations were extended, guests came and retired at their 
pleasure. A servant conducted them to the drawing-room, where 
Washington stood. He writes of this ceremony : " At their first entrance 
they salute me and I them, and as many as I can I talk to. Gentlemen 
often in great numbers come and go ; chat with each other, and act as 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-I79O 33 

they please." Persons who wished to see him on business were admitted 
on any day of the week ; and foreign ambassadors and official characters 
could see him at any time by appointment. 

Meanwhile he applied himself to the study of the actual condition of 
foreign and domestic affairs. He industriously read all the correspond- 
ence that had accumulated since the close of the war, and one notable 
feature of his lessons was to produce with his own hand abstracts of 
the reports of the secretaries, and of the treasury commissions, in order to 
impress facts more accurately upon his memory, and thereby enable him 
to master all the subjects in detail. 

He also looked after his household concerns — the arrangement of fur- 
niture, the hanging of pictures, and the locating of vases, bric-a-brac, china, 
cut glass, silverware, and linen, which Mrs. Washington had sent by sea 
from Mount Vernon — with as much precision as he ever directed his 
farmer or steward how to plough, plant seed, buy nails, scissors, grains, 
gloves, buttons, shingles, hats, dishes, soap, hoes, rakes, horses, and other 
necessaries, all of which appears in his well-known hand-writing among 
the 117 folio volumes of " Washington Papers," in the State Department 
at Washington. 

While he was thus variously employed Mrs. Washington was setting 
her house in order at Mount Vernon for a protracted absence, and in the 
course of four weeks had made the journey to New York in her own car- 
riage, accompanied by her two grand-children, Nelly and George Washing- 
ton Parke Custis, the latter then eight years of age. These children appear 
in our beautiful frontispiece, a picture for which the reader is indebted to 
the collection and the never-failing courtesy of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet. 
Mrs. Washington missed the great ball on the 7th of May, but on the 
29th of that month she held her first reception, or levee, as it was styled, 
which was attended by all that was distinguished in official and fashion- 
able society. She had approached New York with a retinue of attendants, 
and been greeted continuously on the way by the old and the young, 
the rich and the poor, the wise and the simple, receiving scarcely less 
homage than that accorded to Washington himself. From Philadelphia 
she was accompanied by Mrs. Robert Morris, and at " Liberty Hall," the 
home of ex-Governor William Livingston, in Elizabeth, she was met by 
Mrs. John Jay. She spent the night there, and in the morning early Pres- 
ident -Washington, John Jay, and Robert Morris, and other prominent 
characters, arrived to breakfast with her and her host and hostess, in the 
old historic dwelling, and then the whole party set out for New York. 
New York Bay presented a similar scene to that witnessed on the day of 



34 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

Washington's memorable reception. No foreign queen was ever welcomed 
by a loving people with more genuine delight. Unconsciously as it were 
polite intercourse with the President and Mrs. Washington assumed a high 
tone. The intellectual and the cultivated, as well as the diplomatic, polit- 
ical and the fashionable visited them familiarly. On the evening prior to 
Mrs. Washington's first reception the following gentlemen dined informally 
at the President's table : Vice-President John Adams, Governor George 
Clinton, Secretary John Jay, the French minister De Moustier, the Span- 
ish minister Gardoqui, Governor Arthur St. Clair of the Northwest terri- 
tory, Speaker Muhlenberg, and Senators John Langdon, Ralph Izard, 
William Few, and Paine Wingate. The latter has left a description of 
this dinner. He says, no clergyman being present, Washington himself 
said grace, on taking his seat. He dined on a boiled leg of mutton, as it 
was his custom to eat of only one dish. After the dessert a single glass 
of wine was offered to each of the guests, when the President rose, the 
guests following his example, and repaired to the drawing-room, each 
departing at his option without ceremony. 

Among the prominent ladies who grouped themselves about Mrs. 
Washington were Mrs. Jay, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Robert 
Morris, Mrs. Ralph Izard, Mrs. Knox, Lady Mary Watts, Lady Kitty 
Duer, Mrs. Beekman, Mrs. Provost, Mrs. Livingston, Mrs. Elbridge Gerry, 
and Mrs. Rufus King. Mrs. Washington, after her first grand entertain- 
ment, received every Friday evening from eight until ten o'clock. These 
levees were arranged on the plan of the English and French drawing- 
rooms, those entitled to the privilege by official station, social position, 
or established merit and character, coming without special invitation. 
But full dress was required of all. 

Such of our readers as have never had the pleasure or opportunity of 
examining the great historic painting of Daniel Huntington, will welcome 
the fac-simile of it presented on another page accompanied by a key to 
the portraiture. It is an elaborate work of art, representing intense and 
careful study, and it is eminently a national picture. It may best be 
described and criticised perhaps in the language of Henry T. Tuckerman : 

" The painting represents a reception given by Mrs. Washington during the Presi- 
dency of our peerless chief. No specific date is chosen, and some liberties are taken 
with the chronological facts — as, for instance, the introduction of General Greene, who 
died shortly previous to this time, but whose prominence in the Revolution makes it 
desirable to include him in the 'Republican Court.' Sixty 'fair women and brave 
men ' occupy the eight feet of canvas. Not one is a lifeless figure ; all are disposed 
easily, all are naturally occupied. The grouping is admirable. As a composition the 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 35 

painting is, therefore, a genuine success. Mrs. Washington stands, dignified, but not 
constrained, upon a raised platform ; behind her is Alexander Hamilton, talking to a 
lady ; near by is John Jay ; Washington is approaching the ladies with a foreign guest. 
We recognize forms and faces at a glance— Mrs. Jay, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Rufus King, 
Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, Mrs. Robert Morris, General Greene, Jonathan Trumbull, 
Oliver Ellsworth, Mrs. Duer, Clinton's venerable mother, Jefferson, the Duke of Cam- 
bridge (on a visit to America), Mrs. Bingham, pretty Nelly Custis, naively standing 
beside her (grand) mother, Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Rutledge, Mrs. Phillipe, Mrs. Schuyler— all the 
heroic and lovely faces, the statesmen and the belles, familiar to us through the portraits 
and miniatures. Huntington has painted the costumes with rare taste and skill ; they 
are elegant, and as authentic as they are picturesque. The drawing is for the most part 
masterly ; the color full of the richest contrast, yet harmoniously toned. All of the 
portraits are copied from Copley, Stuart, Malbone, and from family likenesses in the 
possession of the living descendants of many of the persons represented." 

At the extreme left in the picture, Mrs. Adams, the wife of the Vice- 
President, and Mrs. Hamilton, will be recognized ; Mrs. Robert Morris 
stands beside Mrs. Washington on the raised platform. Jonathan Trum- 
bull is seated at her left in an arm-chair; Mrs. Bingham and Mrs. Jay are 
conspicuously in the foreground, and little George Washington Parke 
Custis is attracting the attention of Mrs. Winthrop and Mrs. Ran- 
dolph, at the extreme right. In all its parts the picture is a pleasant study, 
and doubly dear at the present moment when thousands are groping in 
the dark for bits of the glorious past in our history— particularly that 
which relates to its social manifestation. 

The most important business of the first Congress was to create the 
department of State, and the Treasury and War departments, the Con- 
stitution having left the details of administration to this august body. 
Troublesome questions arose on the start. The President for instance 
had been empowered to appoint the heads of departments, but the Con- 
stitution was silent as to where the powers of removal should be lodged. 
Equally acute thinkers and interpreters of the law stood opposed in the 
discussion, which was finally decided in favor of the President. That this 
should not be regarded as a grant of actual power by Congress, the bill 
was carefully worded so as to imply a constitutional power already existing 
in the President, thus, " Whenever the secretary shall be removed by the 
President of the United States," etc. It is to this day a question whether 
our first legislators acted wisely in the matter. 

It was not until September that the permanent secretaries were 
appointed by Washington, after which the intricate machinery of each 
department was to be devised, set in motion, and with much experimenting 
adjusted to its purposes. Thomas Jefferson was made Secretary of State; 



36 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 




LADY Washington's reception day. 
{From Huntingion^s celebrated painting:'] 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1 789 179O 



37 




LADV WASHINGTON S RECEPTION DAY. 

[From Huntington'' s celebrated painting.] 



38 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, I789-1790 




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i^ttpq «(t) ;^s E s s » a (3 



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WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-1790 39 

Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Knox, Secretary of War- Ex- 
Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia, Attorney-General ; and Samuel 
Osgood of New York, Postmaster-General. 

These officers were Washington's auxiliaries rather than his counselors 
for the Cabinet as an advisory body was unknown to the Constitution and 
to the laws of Congress. The President called them together at intervals 
but It was chiefly to give them instructions, as he was held responsible 
for the good conduct of the departments. He could take advice of them 
if he chose, but at his own option. While the house was vigorously 
debating several knotty questions in connection with the establishment of 
the departments-chiefly the contemplated revenue system, and the 
matter of the salaries to be paid the President, Vice-President, and other 
officials of the government— the senate took up the subject of the 
national judiciary, and established the supreme court and circuit and 
district courts, an organization which has remained substantially the same 
to the present time. It seemed eminently fitting that John Jay, who had 
been the first chief-justice of the state of New York in the most critical 
of all periods, should become the first chief-justice of the United States 
and he received the appointment, although the court was not fully 
organized until the following April. Oliver Ellsworth was chairman of 
- the committee that prepared the bill creating this tribunal, which was to 
hold two sessions annually at the seat of government. Six associate- 
justices were appointed— William Gushing, James Wilson, Robert H 
Harrison, John Blair, John Rutledge, and Patrick Henry. Harrison 
declined, and James Iredell of North Carolina was appointed in his stead 
These gentlemen procured homes and brought their families to reside in 
New York city. 

There were not many good houses then to rent, and the varied experi- 
ences of the new-comers would form an amusing chapter. The salary 
fixed for the attorney-general was only $1,500 a year; and Mr. Conway in 
his recent work on Randolph, says that " Madison was unable to find a 
house in New York fit for his friend to live in for less than $250, though 
Randolph had begged him to get one for less. ' Frugality is my object 
and therefore a house near the town which is cheap in point of rent would 
suit me. An hundred and sixty-six and two-thirds dollars, i;5o Virginia 
currency, is what I think I may allow per annum.' " Randolph wrote 
soon after to his wife : " I have a house at a mile and a half or thereabouts 
from Federal Hail-that is from the most public part of the city. It is, in 
fact, in the country, is airy, has seven rooms, is well finished and gentle- 
manlike. The rent, ^ys our money. Good water is difficult to be'^found 



40 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

in this place, and the inhabitants are obliged to receive water for tea, and 
other purposes which do not admit brackish water, from hogsheads 
brought every day in drays. At our house there is an excellent pump of 
fresh water, I am told. ... I am resolved against any company of 
form, and to live merely a private life." 

Oliver Wolcott, then a brilliant young man of thirty, was appointed 
auditor of the treasury, and his salary was, like that of Randolph, §1,500 a 
year. Oliver Ellsworth furnished him with an estimate of the cost of 
living in New York, and remarked that he could keep his expenses within 
$1,000 per annum, unless he should change his style, which was wholly 
unnecessary. Wolcott, on reaching New York, wrote to his wife : " The 
example of the President and his family will render parade and expense 
improper and disreputable. We can live as retired or as much in the 
world as we choose." In December following he wrote to his mother : 
" We have not been able to hire a house, and shall continue in lodgings 
until spring." 

Washington's immense activity, which in effect had condensed a score 
of life-times into his fifty-seven well-rounded years, showed that his origi- 
nal endowment of nerve and brain power was magnificent. Claude Victor, 
Prince de Broglie, who was arrested by the revolutionary tribunal in Paris, 
tried, condemned, and guillotined June 27, 1794, left among the records 
of his visit to America the following pen-portrait of Washington : " He 
is tall, nobly built, and very well proportioned. His face is much more 
agreeable than represented in his portrait. His accost is cold though 
polite. His pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling ; but 
their expression is benevolent, noble, and self-possessed. In his private 
conduct he preserves that polite and attentive good-breeding which 
satisfies everybody, and that dignified reserve that offends no one. 
He is a foe to ostentation and to vain-glory. He receives with perfect 
grace all the homages which are paid him, but he evades them rather 
than seeks them. His company is agreeable and winning. Always 
serious, never abstracted, always simple, always easy and affable without 
being familiar, the respect which he inspires is never oppressive. He 
speaks but little in general, and that in a subdued tone, but he is so 
attentive to what is said to him that, being satisfied he understands you 
perfectly, one is disposed to dispense with an answer. This behavior has 
been very useful to him on numerous occasions. . . . At dessert he 
eats enormously of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining he 
keeps eating through a couple of hours, from time to time giving sundry 
healths, according to the English and American custom. It is what they 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 41 

call toasting. I toasted very often with him, and among others on one 
occasion I proposed to drink to the Marquis de Lafayette, whom he 
regards as his own child. He accepted with a benevolent smile, and had 
the politeness to respond by proposing the health of my father and my 
wife." 

During the greater part of the months of June and July of that first 
year of his presidency, Washington was suffering from a violent illness and 
confined to the house. But August found him convalescent, and ere long- 
he was taking his accustomed drives over the roads on the upper part of 
Manhattan Island, and walking from his house in Franklin Square to the 
Battery with the same light, firm, elastic step as formerly. The summer 
of 1789 was fortunately very cool and comfortable, and the busy legislators 
toiled on, taking no vacation until the adjournment of Congress on the 
26th of September. The city was then quiet, comparatively, for a few 
weeks. Washington had for some time been contemplating a tour through 
the New England States, and as the autumn advanced he prepared for the 
journey, setting the example which has been variously followed by his 
successors even to the present administration. He left New York when 
the autumn foliage was gorgeous in all the colors of the rainbow, about the 
middle of October, and was absent a month, less one day. He traveled in 
his own chariot drawn by four handsome horses, attended by his two per- 
sonal secretaries, Tobias Lear and Major Jackson, on horseback. Wash- 
ington's own account of this tour is more terse and to the point than any 
other, hence we quote a few passages from his diary : 

" Thursday, October 15. Commenced my journey about 9 o'clock for Boston. . . . 
The Chief Justice, Mr. Jay, and the Secretaries of the Treasury and War Departments 
accompanied me some distance out of the city. • About 10 o'clock it began to rain, and con- 
tinued to do so until 11, when we arrived at the house of one Hoyatt, who keeps a tavern 
at Kingsbridge, where we, that is, Major Jackson, Mr. Lear, and myself, with six servants, 
which composed my retinue, dined. After dinner, through frequent light showers, we 
proceeded to the tavern of a Mrs. Haviland at Rye ; who keeps a very neat and decent 
Inn. 

The road for the greater part was stony but the land strong, well covered with grass 
and a luxuriant crop of Indian corn intermixed with pompions (which were yet ungath- 
ered) in the fields. We met four droves of beef cattle for the New York market (about 
30 in a drove), some of which were very fine — also a flock of sheep for the same place. 
We scarcely passed a farm-house that did not abound in geese. 

The distance of this day's travel was 31 miles, in which we passed through (after leav- 
ing the Bridge) East Chester, New Rochelle, and Mamaroneck ; but, as these places 
(though they have houses of worship in them) are not regularly laid out, they are scarcely 
to be distinguished from the intermediate farms, which are very close together — and sep- 
arated, as one inclosure from another also is, by fences of stone, which are indeed easily 



42 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

made, as the country is immensely stony. Upon enquiry we find their crops of wheat and 
rye have been abundant — though of the first they had sown rather sparingly, on account 
of the destruction which had of late years been made of that grain by what is called the 
Hessian fiy. 

Friday, October 16. About 7 o'clock we left the Widow Haviland's, and after passing 
Horse Neck, six miles distant from Rye, the road through which is hilly and immensely 
stony, and trying to wheels and carriages, we breakfasted at Stamford, which is six 
miles further (at one Webb's), a tolerably good house, but not equal in appearance or 
reality to Mrs. Haviland's. In this town are an Episcopal church and a meeting house. 
At Norwalk, which is ten miles further, we made a halt to feed our horses. To the lower 
end of this town sea vessels come, and at the other end are mills, stores, and an Episcopal 
and Presbyterian church. From hence to Fairfield, where we dined and lodged, is 12 
miles ; and part of it a very rough road, but not equal to that thro' Horse Neck. . . . 
We found all the farmers busily employed in gathering, grinding, and pressing the juice 
of their apples; the crop of which they say is rather above mediocrity. . . . The 
destructive evidences of British cruelty are yet visible both in Norwalk and Fairfield ; as 
there are the chimneys of many burnt houses standing in them yet. The principal export 
from Norwalk and Fairfield is horses and cattle— salted beef and pork — lumber and Indian 
corn, to the West Indies, and in a small degree wheat and flour. 

Saturday, October 17. A little after sunrise we left Fairfield, and passing through East 
Fairfield breakfasted at Stratford, which is ten miles from Fairfield, and is a pretty village 
on or near Stratford river. The road between these two places is not on the whole bad 
(for this country), in some places very good, especially through East Fairfield, which is 
in a plain and free from stone. 

There are two decent looking churches in this place, though small, viz. : an Episcopal, 
and Presbyterian or Congregationalist (as they call themselves). At Stratford there is the 
same. At this place I was received with an effort of military parade ; and was attended 
to the ferry, which is near a mile from the centre of the town, by several gentlemen on 
horseback. Doctor Johnson of the Senate [William Samuel Johnson, LL.D., president of 
Columbia College] visited me here, being with Mrs. Johnson in this town, where he for- 
merly resided. . . . From the ferry it is almost 3 miles to Milford, which is situated in 
more uneven and stony ground than the last three villages through which we passed. In 
this place there is but one church, or in other words but one steeple— but there are grist 
and saw mills, and a handsome cascade over the tumbling dam. . . . From Milford 
we took the lower road through West Haven, part of which was good and part rough, and 
arrived at New Haven before two o'clock ; we had time to walk through several parts of 
the city before dinner. 

" By taking the lower road we missed a committee of the Assembly, who had been 
appointed to wait upon and escort me into the town, to prepare an address, and to con- 
duct me when I should leave the city as far as they should judge proper. The address 
was presented at 7 o'clock, and at nine I received another address from the Congrega- 
tional clergy of the place. Between the receipt of the two addresses I received the com- 
pliment of a visit of the governor, Mr. Huntington, the lieutenant-governor, Mr. Wolcott, 
and the mayor, Mr. Roger Sherman." 

The newspapers of the day give a glowing account of Washington's 
entertainment in New Haven, where he spent the Sabbath. In the fore- 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1 789- 1 790 43 

noon of Sunday he attended divine service at Trinity Church, escorted by 
Mr. Edwards, speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Ingersoll, and other gentlemen 
of prommence; and in the afternoon went to one of the Congrecrational 
churches, escorted by the governor, Heutenant-governor, the mayor and 
the speaker of the Assembly, all of whom dined with Washington at his 
mvitation, who notes the fact in his diary, and also that he took tea at the 
house of the mayor, Roger Sherman. 

New Haven was awake early in the morning on Monday, the 19th of 
October, as Washington left that city at 6 o'clock, accompanied for a con- 
siderable distance by a troop of cavalry and many of the most prominent 
citizens on horseback. He further says in his diary : 

" We arrived at Wallingford (13 miles) by half after 8 o'clock, where we breakfasted 
and took a walk through the town. . . At this place we see the white mulberry growing' 
raised from the seed, to feed the silkworm. We also saw samples of lustrino- (exceed- 
ingly good) which had been manufactured from the cocoon raised in this town \nd silk- 
thread very fine. This, except the weaving, is the work of private families." 

At I o'clock in the afternoon the Presidential chariot rolled into Mid- 
dletown on the Connecticut River, attended by a large party of mounted 
citizens who had gone out two or three miles to meet and di honor to the 
nation's ruler. He dined there while his horses rested, and as at many 
other points walked about the place "while dinner was getting ready " to 
observe its industrial features. At 3 o'clock he started for Hartford,' pass- 
ing through Wethersfield, where he was met by an escorting party from 
Hartford with Colonel Wadsworth at its head, which city he reached just 
as the sun was setting. Turning to his diary we read : 

"Tuesday, October 20. After breakfast, accompanied by Colonel Wadsworth Mr 
Ellsworth, and Colonel Jesse Root, I viewed the woolen manufacturing at this place vvhich 
seems to be going on with spirit. Their broadcloths are not of the first quality as yet, but 
they are good ; as are their coatings, cassimeres, serges and everlastings. Of the first 
that is, broadcloth, I ordered a suit to be sent to me at New York ; and of the latter a 
whole piece, to make breeches for my servants. . . Dined and drank tea at Colonel Wads- 
worth's, and about 7 o'clock received from, and answered the address of the town of 
Hartford. 

• Wednesday, October 21. By promise I was to have breakfasted at Mr. Ellsworth's 
at Windsor.* on my way to Springfield ; but the morning proving very wet, and the rain 
not ceasing till past 10 o'clock, I did not set out until half after that hour. I called, how 
ever, on Mr. Ellsworth and stayed there near an hour. Reached Springfield by 4 o'clock 
and while dinner was getting ready, examined the Continental stores at this place which 
I found in very good order at the buildings (on the hill above the town) which belong lo 

* Oliver Ellsworth, Senator [Magazine of American History, xx. 440], whose home was at 
Windsor, about seven miles above Hartford. 



44 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

the United States. . . There is great equality in the people of this state. Few or no opu- 
lent men— and no poor — great similitude in their buildings, the general fashion of which 
is a chimney (always of stone or brick) and door in the middle, with a staircase fronting the 
latter, . . . two flush stories with a very good show of sash and glass windows ; the size 
generally is from 30 to 50 feet in length, and from 20 to 30 feet in width, exclusive of a 
back shed, which seems to be added as the family increases." 

Washington's critical observations on this first Presidential tour through 
the country are of surpassing interest. He seems to have known how to 
use his eyes to the best advantage, and to have lost nothing worthy of note. 
He describes the average farm, how it was worked " chiefly by oxen, 
(which have no other feed than hay), with a horse and sometimes two before 
them, both in plow and cart," and states the condition of the roads he 
passed over on each day, the style of the fences, the quality of the soil, 
and the exact number of the churches in the principal towns. He pro- 
duces a picture of New England a hundred years ago, the colors of which 
will brighten and deepen as the years roll on. 

An amusing incident occurred between Springfield and Worcester. A 
messenger was sent forward to inform the keeper of a little wayside inn 
that " the President was near by and wished to be accommodated with a 
little necessary refreshment, and lodging." The proprietor was absent, 
and his wife, supposing it was the president of Rhode Island College, who 
frequently stopped with them, accompanied by his wife, and not feeling 
well enough to entertain them, sent word back " that the President must 
go on to the next tavern." The disappointment of the landlady may well 
be imagined when she found after it was too late that it was the great 
Washington who intended to honor her house. " Bless me ! " she cried, 
" the sight of him would have cured my illness ! " 

At Worcester he was received with great ceremony, and with the 
booming of guns. To gratify the inhabitants he rode through the town 
on horseback, his chariot following in the rear. He spent the night of the 
23d at Weston. Saturday, the 24th, he writes : " Dressed by seven 
o'clock, and set out at eight — at ten we arrived in Cambridge, according to 
appointment." He called, and tarried for about an hour, at the residence 
of Mr. Longfellow, which was his headquarters in 1775, and then in his 
Continental uniform and mounted on a white horse, he was conducted into 
Boston by a military escort of one thousand or more men, led by General 
Brooks. Lieutenant-Governor Samuel Adams, with the executive council 
of Massachusetts, and the officers of the city government, met, welcomed, 
and preceded him into Boston, while he was followed by his secretaries, 
Vice-President John Adams, ex-Governor James Bowdoin, Senator Tristam 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, T789-I790 45 

Dalton, distinguished citizens, committees, civil and military officers 
between forty and fifty societies, and bodies of mechanics and tradesmen! 
carrying banners of great beauty, with appropriate devices. Washington 
in reference to this parade says : " It was in every degree flattering^ind 
honorable." A triumphal arch was thrown across Main Street, bearing in 
front the inscription " To the man who unites all hearts," for him to pass 
through into the State House, and thence he proceeded to an outside 
gallery supported by thirteen columns, over the west door, where his 
appearance was greeted with prolonged shouts from the enthusiastic 
throng. He himself remarks incidentally: -The streets, the doors, win- 
dows and tops of the houses were crowded with well-dressed ladies and 
gentlemen." 

Washington remained in Boston four days, until the 29th, and during 
this memorable Presidential visit the ladies of Boston wore a sash of 
broad white ribbon, with G. W. in golden letters, encircled with a laurel 
wreath. At a brilliant assemblage which he attended at Concert Hall on 
the 28th, graced by all that was distinguished in affairs and society, the 
Marchioness Traversay wore in addition to the sash above described, on 
the bandeau of her hat, the initials G. W., and an eagle set in brilliants on 
a ground of black velvet. The illustrious guest of the evening observes: 
" There were upwards of one hundred ladies. Their appearance was 
elegant, and many of them very handsome." 

Every moment of Washington's time was agreeably and usefully occu- 
pied during his stay in Boston, and would in itself form a chapter of 
marvelous interest. A " large and elegant " dinner was given him at 
Faneuil Hall on the 27th, by the governor and council, prior to which he 
had that morning been to an oratorio, and between noon and three 
o'clock, P.M., had received the addresses of the government of the state, 
of the town of Boston, of the president and professors of Harvard Col- 
lege, and of the state branch of the order of the Cincinnati. He attended 
church on the Sabbath, both morning and afternoon ; he visited the 
French squadron in the harbor, and was received with the homage offered 
to kings ; he visited the institutions of learning, and he made special note 
of every manufacturing establishment of public utility. 

He went through Lynn on leaving Boston, and out of his way to 
Marblehead, because he wanted to see the place. He describes it as hav- 
ing " the appearance of antiquity: the houses are old ; the streets dirty; 
and the common people not very clean." His special desire was to learn 
about the fishing business of its people. Of Lynn, he writes : " It is said 
175,000 pair of shoes (women's chiefly) have been made in a year by about 



46 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

400 workmen. This is only a row of houses, and not very thick, on each 
side of the road." He was met by a committee and a handsomely uni- 
formed military escort, who conducted him into the flourishing town of 
Salem, where an ode in his honor was sung, addresses presented, respect 
paid to him by all classes of, people, and after dining he attended an 
assembly in the evening, where he says: "There were at least an hundred 
handsome and well-dressed ladies." 

On Friday, the 30th, he was received in Newburyport with military 
honors, where he spent the night. On Saturday, the 31st, after break- 
fasting with Senator Tristam Dalton, he proceeded toward Portsmouth. 
A cavalcade came out to meet him at the state line, in which the figures of 
the President of New Hampshire, John Sullivan, and Senators John Lang- 
don and Paine Wingate were conspicuous, and Washington, who had thus 
far been riding on horseback to gratify the people who lined the road the 
whole distance, dismounted, and took leave of the escort which had 
attended him to this point. Before reaching Portsmouth, however, the 
clamor of the spectators along the road was such that Washington 
mounted his horse and rode through the ranks of men, women, and chil- 
dren, to their never-ending delight. He says: " With this cavalcade, we 
proceeded, and arrived before three o'clock at Portsmouth, where we were 
received with every token of respect arid appearance of cordiality, under 
a discharge of artillery. The streets, doors, and windows were crowded 
here as in all other places ; and alighting at the town-house odes were sung 
and played in honor of the President. . . . From the town-house I 
went to Colonel Brewster's tavern, the place provided for my residence ; 
and asked the president, vice-president, the two senators, the marshal 
and Major Oilman to dine with me, which they did ; after which I drank 
tea at Mr. Langdon's." 

On Sunday Washington attended religious services in two of the 
churches, attended by Governor Sullivan, Senator Langdon, and others ; 
in the forenoon at the Episcopal, and in the afternoon at the Congrega- 
tional, Rev; Joseph Buckminster, pastor. In both cases he was conducted 
to his pew by the marshal of the district and two church wardens, with 
their staves. He remained in Portsmouth until Wednesday, the 4th, dur- 
ing which time he went in a barge to view the harbor, and landed for a 
few moments at Kittery, in Maine. He writes: "Having lines we pro- 
ceeded to the fishing banks a little without the harbour and fished for Cod ; 
but it not being a proper time of tide, we caught only two, with which 
about one o'clock we returned to town. Dined at Mr. Langdon's, and 
drank tea there, with a large circle of ladies, and retired a little after seven 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 47 

o'clock." He says that Portsmouth contained at that time about five 
thousand inhabitants. " There are some good houses (among which 
Colonel Langdon's may be esteemed the first), but in general they are 
indifferent, and almost entirely of wood. On wondering at this, as the 
country is full of stone and good clay for bricks, I was told that on 
account of the fogs and damp they deemed them wholesomer, and for 
that reason preferred wood buildings." 

On Tuesday a public dinner was given in honor of the President, 
attended by the principal officers of the state government, the clergy, the 
members of the bar, and eminent private citizens; and after the first 
toast, Washington himself arose and offered, "The State of New Hamp- 
shire," which created the utmost enthusiasm. The same evening, he 
writes: "At half after seven I went to the assembly, where there were 
about seventy-five well-dressed and many of them very handsome ladies 
— among whom (as was also the case at Salem and Boston assemblies) 
were a greater proportion with much blacker hair than are usually seen 
in the southern states. About nine I returned to my quarters." 

Washington was anxious that his journey homeward to New York 
should be without any public receptions whatever. He had been exceed- 
ingly gratified with the evidences of respect and affection which had made 
this first Presidential tour, thus far, a continuous triumphal march, 
unparalleled in history, but he feared such ceaseless demonstrations on the 
part of the people would react to the disadvantage of their private occupa- 
tions and business interests. He writes in his note-book: 

" Wednesday, November 4. About half after seven I left Portsmouth, quietly, and 
without any attendance, having- earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony might 
be avoided on my return. Before ten I reached Exeter, 14 miles distance. This is con- 
sidered the second town in New Hampshire, and stands at the head of the tide-water of 
Piscataqua river. ... It is a place of some consequence, but does not contain more than 
1. 000 inhabitants. A jealousy subsists between this town (where the legislature alter- 
nately sits) and Portsmouth ; which, had I known it in time, would have made it necessary 
to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements having been 
otherwise made, I could not. From hence, passing through Kingstown (6 miles from 
Exeter), I arrived at Haverhill about half-past two, and stayed all night. . . . The 
inhabitants of this small village were well disposed to welcome me to it by every demon- 
stration which could evince their joy." 

He returned by a different route from'that taken in going to Boston and 
Portsmouth, and interested himself with every little detail of country life 
which he encountered, often halting to converse with the farmers along 
the road, questioning them about their crops. At Uxbridge he lodged at 
a small inn kept by Mr. Taft, and the letter he wrote back to the landlord 



48 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

after reaching Hartford, accompanying a gift to each of his young 
daughters, was the basis of the romantic story, " How Washington made 
the Fortunes of two Apple Pickers," published, as will be remembered, 
some dozen years ago. He stopped over the Sabbath on the 8th, giving 
his reasons as follows : 

" It being contrary to law and disagreeable to the people of this State (Connecticut) to 
travel on the Sabbath day— and my horses after passing through such intolerable roads 
wanting rest, I stayed at Perkins' tavern (which, by the way, is not a good one) all day — 
and a meeting-house being within a few rods of the door, I attended morning and evening 
service, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond." 

Washington passed through Mansfield, which was even then making a 
larger quantity of silk than any other town in the state. He spent the 
night of November 9 in Hartford, and at seven the next morning took the 
middle road to New Haven, which city he reached just before sundown. 
Here he met Mr. Elbridge Gerry, just in from New York, who gave him the 
first certain account of the health of Mrs. Washington since he parted 
from her. He reached his own house in Franklin Square between two and 
three o'clock on Friday, November 13, his horses looking as fresh and 
gay as if they had not been traveling continuously for a month ; and he 
was just in time to be present at Mrs. Washington's reception, of which he 
says : " A pretty large company of ladies and gentlemen were present." 

The winter of 1790 was superlatively mild and pleasant until February, 
and New York was indeed the gayest and most charming city on the conti- 
nent. The presence of so much dignity of character, statesmanship, legal 
lore, culture, and social elegance inspired all manner of ambitions. John 
Trumbull wrote to Oliver Wolcott early in December : 

" I see the President has returned all fragrant with the odour of insence. It must have 
given him satisfaction to find that the hearts of the people are united in his favor ; but 
the blunt and acknowledged adulation of our addresses must often have wounded his 
feelings. We have gone through all the popish grades of worship, at least up to the 
Hyperdoillia. This tour has answered a good political purpose, and in a great measure 
stilled those who were clamoring about the wages of Congress and the salaries of 
officers." 

The President was each day in consultation with the new secretaries in 
shaping the conduct of their departments, and the most complex and 
important subjects that came before the legislators in Wall Street were 
constantly being brought to his notice. But, notwithstanding the weighty 
affairs of state, he found time for loyalty to every social duty. The extracts 
from his diary published in the February magazine of 1888, the last entry 
then quoted being that of " February 18, 1789," furnish bewitching glimpses 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 49 

of his movements. The city was astir with all manner of festivities, public 
and private — the balls and dinners were far more numerous than the even- 
ings — and statesmen were constantly meeting in polite circles and every- 
where discussing the great topics of the hour, such as the trouble the 
Indians were giving on the Ohio river, and in the Carolinas, Georgia, and 
Alabama, the disturbed condition of foreign affairs, Hamilton's bill for 
funding the public debt, and the location of the permanent seat of govern- 
ment. The President continued his Thursday dinner parties, inviting 
members of Congress, foreign ministers, and other eminent persons. On 
the 1 8th of February the guests were Mr. and Mrs. Elbridge Gerry, Elias 
Boudinot, the New Jersey philanthropist, and Mrs. Boudinot, Isaac Coles 
and Mrs. Coles from Virginia, the brilliant Alexander White and Mrs. 
White, Samuel Grififin and Mrs. Griffin, Judge Gushing and his lady, and 
Postmaster-General Osgood and Mrs. Osgood. 

On Tuesday afternoons Washington was ready to receive visitors at 
three o'clock, usually dressed in coat and breeches of rich black velvet, with 
a white or pearl-colored satin vest, his hair powdered and gathered into 
a silk bag, silver knee-buckles and shoe-buckles, a cocked hat in his hand, 
and an elegant sword in its scabbard of polished white leather at his side. 
At Mrs. Washington's Friday levees he appeared as a private gentleman, 
without hat or sword. Mrs. Jay, Mrs. Hamilton, and Mrs. Knox each 
had a special evening aside from giving dinners every week. Chancellor 
Livingston's home in Broadway below Trinity Church was open to all that 
was notable in the world of politics and letters. Livingston was a great 
lover of art treasures, and the walls of his mansion were adorned with 
beautiful paintings and Gobelin tapestry of unique design, while costly 
ornaments greeted the eye in every apartment. His table service was of 
solid silver, valued, it is said, at upwards of thirty thousand dollars ; four 
side-dishes each weighed twelve and one-half pounds. 

On the anniversary of his fifty-eighth birthday, February 22, 1790, 
Washington was in the turmoil of removal from the Franklin house, which 
had been found exceedingly inconvenient on account of its great distance 
out of town, to the McComb mansion in lower Broadway, previously occu- 
pied by the French minister. So much of the Presidential furniture was 
carried during the day to the new house, that two of the gentlemen of the 
President's household slept there that night. At the same time most of 
the large towns in the United States were celebrating with enthusiasm his 
birthday. The Tammany Society or Columbian Order, then recently 
instituted in New York, held a meeting at their wigwam, and resolved that 
forever after it would " commemorate the birthday of the illustrious 



50 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-179O 

George Washington." Some extracts from Washington's diary are of 
special interest in this connection. 

"Tuesday, February 23. Few or no visitors at the Levee to-day, from the idea of my 
being on the move. After dinner, Mrs Washington and myself and children removed, 
and lodged at our new habitation. 

Wednesday 24 Employed in arranging matters about the house and fixing matters. 

Thursday 25 Engaged as yesterday. In the afternoon a committee of Congress 
presented an Act for enumerating the inhabitants of the United States. 

Friday 26 A numerous company of ladies and gentlemen here this afternoon. 
Exercised on horseback this forenoon. 

Saturday 27 Sat for Mr Trumbull this forenoon ; after which exercised in the 
coach with Mrs Washington and the children. 

Sunday 28 Went to St Paul's Chapel in the forenoon. Wrote letters on private 
business afterwards. 

Monday, March i. E.xercised on horseback this forenoon, attended by Mr John 
Trumbull, who wanted to see me mounted. Informed the House of Representatives 
(where the bill originated) that I had given my assent to the act for taking a census of 
the people. . . . 

Tuesday 2 Much and respectable company at the Levee to-day. Caused a letter 
to be written to the Gov'r of St lago respecting the imprisonment of a Captain Ham- 
mond. 

Wednesday 3 Exercised on horseback betvveen 9 and 1 1 o'clock. 

Thursday 4 Sat from 9 until half after 10 o'clock for Mr Trumbull. The following 
gentlemen dined here to-day, viz; the vice President (John Adams) Messers (John) Lang- 
don, (Paine) Wingate, (Tristam) Dalton, (Caleb) Strong, (Oliver) Ellsworth, (Philip) 
Schuyler, (Rufus) King, (William) Patterson, (Robert) Morris, (William) Maclay, (Richard) 
Bassett, (John) Henry, (William Samuel) Johnson, (Benjamin) Hawkins, (Ralph) Izard, 
(Pierce) Butler, and (William) Few, all of the Senate. 

Friday 5 A very numerous company of ladies and gentlemen here this evening. 

Saturday 6 Exercised in the coach with Mrs Washington and the children, and in 
the afternoon walked round the Battery." 

The general upheaval of society in France at this juncture, as described 
from time to time by Gouverneur Morris, caused much uneasiness. After 
spending an evening with De Moustier, the French minister who had 
returned to Paris, Morris writes : *' I find that, notwithstanding public pro- 
fessions as to the public proceedings of America, both De Moustier and 
Madame de Brehan have a thorough dislike to the country and its inhab- 
itants. The society of New York is not sociable, the provisions of America 
are not good, the climate is very damp, the wines are abominable, the 
people are excessively indolent." Thomas Jefferson, coming home from his 
mission to France, was overflowing with sympathy for the French revolu- 
tionists. He spent a few weeks at his beautiful Virginia country seat, and 
then traveled to New York to assume the duties of Secretary of State. He 



WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, I789-179O 5 1 

arrived on Sunday. Washington had just returned from church when 
Jefferson was announced. " Show him in," was the quick and pleased 
response, and then the President, without waiting, stepped forward and 
greeted his guest with special warmth and cordiaHty in the entrance hall. 
Jefferson's coming on that day was particularly opportune. Washington 
and Jay were earnestly considering the course to be pursued in relation to 
some captives in Algiers — and also about the sending of charge's d'affaires 
to the courts of Europe. JefTerson was fresh from the old world, and 
brought the latest exact intelligence touching upon its affairs. But he did 
not find things in America as he expected. He was disappointed with 
the Constitution ; and he thought the leaning was toward a kingly instead 
of a republican government. Hamilton's project of a national bank 
shocked him — he regarded it as a fountain of demoralization. 

It was at Hamilton's dinner-table that he first advocated aiding France 
to throw off her monarchical yoke. Hamilton shook his head and declared 
himself in favor of maintaining a strict neutrality. This question presently 
assumed vital importance. Jefferson opposed Hamilton's funding system 
and seemed to distrust all his measures. Stormy discussions were of daily 
occurrence, trifles were magnified, and political excitement spread through 
the country. Thus developed that division in politics, which, gradually 
rising to the dignity of party organization, was known as Federalism and 
Republicanism. The Assumption Bill brought to the front all the local 
prejudices of a century, and created such feuds that when it was lost in 
the house by a vote taken one hot July afternoon, the whole business of 
the nation was in a deadlock. The northern members threatened seces- 
sion and dissolution of the union. Congress actually adjourned from day 
to day because opposing parties were too much out of temper to do busi- 
ness together. Washington was seriously alarmed. 

For some weeks the controversy over the location of the permanent 
seat of government had been almost as heated as that concerning the 
Assumption Bill. " The question of residence is constantly entangling 
every measure proposed," wrote Wolcott. New York city was preferred 
by the majority ; the gentlemen from the New England states could reach 
it with ease, and it was accessible by sea from the south. A house, intended 
for a Presidential residence, was already in process of erection near the 
Battery, on the site of the old fort, overlooking the Bowling Green. But 
neither the state nor the city authorities were ready to cede the territory 
and the jurisdiction of the ten miles square which it must inclyde, even if 
such a tract could be found appropriately situated. Harlem Heights 
was suggested as suitable for the proposed district, as was also West- 



52 



WASHINGTON -AS PRESIDENT, 1789-1790 




WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-I79O 53 

Chester and the heights of Brooklyn. Washington was incessantly act- 
ive and observant. His morning exercise on horseback was frequently 
extended to the site of the Harlem Heights battle-field, where he won 
his first absolute victory in an open field encounter with the British ; 
and this picturesque elevation between Manhattanville and Kingsbridge 
would have been unquestionably his choice for the site of a capitol and 
public buildings, if the question had been decided in favor of New York. 

One charming summer day a party was formed for a drive over Harlem 
Heights, and a visit to the remains of Fort Washington. The party con- 
sisted of the President and Mrs. Washington, the two children, Mrs. Lear, 
the gentlemen of the President's household, Vice-President John Adams 
and Mrs. Adams, their son and Miss Smith, Secretary and Mrs. Hamilton, 
Secretary Thomas Jefferson, and Secretary and Mrs. Knox. Returning, 
they alighted at the old Roger Morris mansion, with which Washington, as 
we all know, was thoroughly familiar, where a dinner had been provided for 
the entire party by Mr. Mariner, the farmer who occupied the premises, 
and an animated and delightful dinner-party it proved. This fine house 
with its extensive grounds had been confiscated, and was at the time in 
the care of a man employed by the government. Towards evening the 
party descended Breakneck Hill and drove rapidly back to the city. The 
" fourteen mile round," Washington's favorite drive, was over the old 
Bloomingdale road to the high bluff where Grant now sleeps, thence across 
to the Kingsbridge and old Boston roads in returning. 

Washington also visited Long Island not far from this time, driving 
through many of the towns, and carefully jotting observations into his 
note-book. Mrs. Jay wrote to her husband, who was in Boston, of the 
President's absence on this trip, and remarks : " On Wednesday Mrs. 
Washington called upon me to go with her to wait upon Miss Van Berckel, 
and on Thursday morning, agreeable to invitation, myself and the little girls 
took an early breakfast with her, and then went with her and her little 
grandchildren to breakfast at General Morris's, at Morrisania. We passed 
together a very agreeable day, and on our return dined with her, as she 
would not take a refusal. After which I came home to dress, and she was 
so polite as to take coffee with me in the evening." In another letter Mrs. 
Jay mentions, " Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton dined with me on Sunday and on 
Tuesday." She also refers to having entertained informally Mrs. Iredell 
and her daughter, and Mr. and Mrs. Munro. Stephen Van Rensselaer, 
of Albany, known as the patroon, was the newly elected senator, and, 
although scarcely twenty-six, was a model of masculine beauty and courtly 
manners; his bride was Mrs. Hamilton's sister Margaret. 



54 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT, 1789-I79O 

Pennsylvania made great efforts to secure the establishment of the 
future capita] on the banks of the Delaware; and Maryland, Delaware, 
and Virginia were anxious that it should be located on the Potomac. The 
South Carolinians objected decidedly to Philadelphia because her Quakers 
" were eternally dogging southern members with their schemes of emancipa- 
tion." The subject of slavery had indeed been introduced into congress by 
a petition from the Quakers that the negroes should receive their freedom. 
The Philadelphians resented any mention of New York as the ultimate 
choice. Dr. Rush wrote to Muhlenberg : " Do as you please, but tear con- 
gress away from New York in any way ; do not rise until you have effected 
this business." 

Jefferson was on his way to see the President one morning when he 
met Hamilton on the street, and the two walked arm in arm backward and 
forward in front of the President's house in Broadway for half an hour, 
Hamilton explaining with the utmost earnestness the anger and disgust of 
the creditor states, and the immediate danger of disunion, unless the 
excitement was calmed through the sacrifice of some subordinate principle. 
Hamilton appealed with such persuasive eloquence and so directly to 
Jefferson for aid in silencing the clamor which menaced the very existence 
of government that the latter yielded, and afterwards said he " was most 
innocently made to hold the candle " to Hamilton's " fiscal manoeuvre" for 
assuming the state debts. He proposed that Hamilton should dine with 
him the next day, inviting two or three other gentlemen ; and at the 
dinner-table the situation was dicussed in all its bearings. It was finally 
agreed that two of the Virginia members should support the Assumption 
Bill, and that Hamilton and Robert Morris should command the northern 
influence sufficient to locate the seat of government on the Potomac. The 
result was the adoption of Hamilton's funding system by a small majority 
in both houses, and the final decision which founded the city of Washing- 
ton on its present site. 

Congress adjourned August 12, to meet in Philadelphia in December, 
returning thanks to the corporation of the city of New York " for the ele- 
gant and convenient accommodations furnished the Congress of the United 
States." On the 14th of August Washington sailed for Newport, return- 
ing on the 2 1 St. On the 30th he left for a brief autumnal visit to Mount 
Vernon, bidding a final farewell to the metropolis to which he had become 
deeply attached. 



XHIRD PAPKR. 



mSTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS. 

THE BATTERY, BOWLING GREEN AND VICINITY. 

THE historic homes in the oldest portion of New York city — lower 
Broadway and the vicinity of the Battery — such as remain or have 
but recently surrendered their sites for the erection of massive structures, 
are associated with more picturesque and stirring events as well as fasci- 
nating romance than the public of the present are apt to suppose. Many 
of these were well along in years when Washington came to take the 
solemn oath of ofifice, in 1789, with which he entered upon his eight years' 
service in organizing and conducting the untried government of a new 
nation, and were even then vastly interesting. How much more so at 
this writing, a hundred years later, just as the chief city on the continent 
is preparing to commemorate the grandest event in the world's annals, 
and to extend its hospitalities to the ends of the earth ; when it is vigor- 
ously rummaging its archives, shaking the dust from unused tomes while 
making felicitous discoveries among the back leaves, and polishing up its 
rusty and sadly neglected memories. 

The Battery and the Bowling Green are familiar names wherever the 
English language is spoken. But they are more easily found by the sight- 
seer on maps and in books than in their respective and exact localities. 
Our foreign visitors look for some monumental indications of their whercr 
abouts, and wonder why Americans do not pay more respect to historic 
landmarks. The Swiss traveler, after sitting for an hour on one of the set- 
tees in the little circle with an iron railing known as the Bowling Green, 
watching the rushing, bustling throngs on business or pleasure bent — on 
" the roads in the air " and along the great surface thoroughfare — suddenly 
sprang to his feet and addressed a passer-by : 

" Vot you put your Liberty statue out in ze sea vor ? Vy not stood it on ze very spot 
vare you vurst come to, vare you build your vurst Dutch vort, vare you vight ze Indian 

55 



56 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 

savage, vare you vas.beat by ze British villi no vighting at all, vare you land your vine 
governors, vare you build your nize houses, vare you vire your big guns, vare you vurst 
does your commerce vith ze world, vare you stood your king's grand stature, vare you 
vorship it vith bon-vire and roast ox, vare you pull it down again and vire it vor liberty 
at ze king's own men in little bullets, vare you triumph over ze king and make ze country 
your very own, vare your congress valks up and down vor six years, vare you build ze 
vurst steamboat, and all ze ozer zings — I zay, vot vor you stood your Liberty statue out 
in ze sea, and have nottin at all on vis spot vare t'vould show you vhat it vas you vorget ? " 

There will doubtless be many among the multitude that promenade 
the grounds of the Battery a few weeks hence who will sympathize with 
our Swiss friend, and sigh for a sign, if not for the statue of Liberty or 
knowledge. If appearances are to be trusted New York is about to grap- 





NEW YORK IN THE BEGINNING. THE SOUTHERN POINT. 



pie with the boundless idea of consequences, to measure the century's 
growth of the country at large, and express this dependent continuity in 
a magnificent, speaking, and educating pageant in its streets on the 30th 
day of April next — such an one as was never before witnessed in America, 
rendering the impressive occasion memorable for all time. The points, 
therefore, which have received the largest legacies of historic riches during 
the two hundred and eighty years since the beginning of civilized life on 
Manhattan island, will be sought with freshly awakened interest by those 
who witness the spectacle. 

The two views of the southern extremity of the city are worth more 
than a volume of wordy eloquence. They both come within three cent- 
uries. The first fort was a little block-house with red cedar palisades. The 
site chosen for it was the same as that now occupied by the steamship 
offices' overlooking the Bowling Green, opposite the Field building. The 
edge of the water was much nearer to it than now, even in the Revolution, 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 57 

as will be noticed in an old view upon another page. This little fortress 
grew from small beginnings into a very respectable citadel. It was revised 
and remodeled and built over almost as many times as there were new 
governors to command it during the first century and a half of its exist- 
ence. When peace came to bless the country, it was allowed to fall into 
decay, and in [789 was removed altogether for the erection of the house 
for the President, illustrated in the February issue of this magazine. 

The fort was much more than a military landmark in its interest for the 
present generation — it was the historic home of all the early governors of 
the province. Peter Minuit who established it was the first to dwell in a 
thatched cottage within the inclosure, safe from the howling wolves and 
curious Indians. He was a man of adventurous spirit, middle-aged, gray- 
haired, with a dull black eye, large robust figure, and coarse manners. He 



NEW YORK IN 1889. THE SOUTHERN POINT, FROM BROOKLYN BRIDGE. 

[Frnm a recent J-kolOj^raph.'] 

is distinguished for having won the confidence of the savage inhabitants, 
and purchased Manhattan island from them in a very business-like fashion. 
His successor was Wouter van Twiller, who built a brick house in the fort 
and lived quite comfortably. Thus we can see progress from the start, 
although the steps were many and slow for numerous decades. Van 
Twiller was one of those inactive, good-natured, irresolute men, who with- 
out trying achieve fame. Thanks to the genius of Washington Irving his 
name is better known than that of any of his successors. Wilhelm Kieft 
succeeded him, and his twelve years of rulership were marked by bloody 
Indian wars, helplessness, and terror. The fort was the only place of 
security, and the people fled to it from every quarter. Just prior to the 
outbreak of savage hostilities — in 1642 — Kieft aided in the building of a 
church inside the fort, on the front wall of which he placed a marble slab 
bearing his name. When the fort was finally demolished, this slab was 
discovered buried in the earth, and was removed to the belfry of the old 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




VIEW OF THE OLD FORT, THE CHURCH, AND NEIGHBORING HOUSES. 

\_Frotn a rare antique draiuing?^ 



Dutch church in Garden Street, where it was consumed in the great fire 
of 1835. Governor Stuyvesant, the most remarkable of the four Dutch 
governors, and his accomplished Huguenot wife took possession of the 
house in the fort in the spring of 1647. He was the son of a Holland 
clergyman, had received a military education, possessed great will power, 
marvelous energy and subtlety of discernment, and for seventeen years 
governed the colony like a veritable autocrat. The great distinguishing 
feature of his administration was the incorporation of the city in 1653, 
unless we may except the surrender of both city and province to the 
English in 1664. He left the impress of his sterling character upon the 
forming institutions of New York. His descendants are among our most 
eminent citizens of to-day, one of whom, the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secre- 
tary of State under President Grant, is president of the approaching cen- 
tennial celebration of the inauguration of Washington in 1789. 

The procession of governors who were sent over from England 
included scions of some of the best families in the realm. Let us observe 
each one in passing. Colonel Richard Nicolls, in 1664, was the first, and 
he laughed a little at the fort with its feint of strength and its gable-roofed 
church, but he found the governor's house within it tolerably supplied with 
comforts. He was well-born and well-bred, could speak the Dutch and 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



59 



French languages as well as his native tongue, and was accustomed to all 
the refinements and luxuries of court circles in the old world. He was 
about forty years of age, a little above medium height, with a fair, open 
face, a pleasing, magnetic gray eye somewhat deeply set, and hair slightly 
curled at the ends. In 1668, after four years' residence in the fort, he 
was succeeded by Sir Francis Lovelace, "a gallant soldier and accom- 
plished gentleman," writes Dr. George H. Moore, " who was himself a 
poet and an artist." He was a handsome, agreeable, polished man of the 
world — upright, generous, and amiable. One of the most important acts 
of his administration was the purchase of Staten Island from the Indian 




VIEW OF THE SITE ' 

[From a photog7aph.l\ 



sachems; the surveyors who explored that property reported that it was 
"the commodiosest seate and richest land in America." The two Dutch 
admirals who recovered New York for the Dutch in 1673, made Governor 
Lovelace a prisoner and raised the three-colored ensign of the republic 
over the fort, spent very little time in it ; but Anthony Colve, who was 
appointed by them to the chief command, took possession of and had a 
merry time in the governor's house ; it is said that he gave more dinners 
and disposed of more wine than any of its former occupants. He was 
a short, stout, dark-complexioned Dutchman, of some military renown 
among his contemporaries. He amused himself with assuming princely 
airs, and guarding well the gates— for little New York was then a walled 



6o 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



city. Peace in Europe and the general restoration of conquests soon 
followed, and then came Sir Edmund Andros, " glittering in gold and 
lace," a gentleman who had been brought up in the king's household, of 
which his father was master of ceremonies. On the loth of November, 

1678, he took formal possession of the 
citadel, and one of the friendly inci- 
dents of the occasion was the presen- 
tation by Colve of his coach and three 
horses to Sir Edmund. The next day 
was the Sabbath, and it is recorded 
that the new governor attended divine 
service in the old church in the fort, 
as was his habit subsequently during 
his entire administration. He was re- 
called in i68i,and Lieutenant-Governor 
Anthony Brockholls commanded in 
^j> his place. In 1683 Governor Thomas 
Dongan became the occupant of the 
governor's house, although he soon 
provided himself with another resi- 
dence. In 1686 Andros was sent over 
to govern New England, which had 
been extended to embrace New York 
where was stationed his lieutenant-governor, Francis Nicholson, whose 
abode was in the house in the fort. During the revolutionary months 
beginning with 1689, when Jacob Leisler was at the head of affairs, 
the fortress was the scene of many exciting events. Henry Sloughter, 
the newly appointed governor of William III., arrived at the fort on the 
20th of March, 1691. He died suddenly on the 23d of July following, 
and Lieutenant-Governor Ingoldsby commanded until the arrival of 
Governor Fletcher in August, 1692. The latter indulged in the same 
style of living to which he had been accustomed in England. He 
refurnished the governor's house, his servants wore handsome livery, 
his wife and daughters dressed in the latest European fashions, he 
rolled through the streets in a carriage drawn by six horses, and he was 
never happier than when extending the hospitalities of his home and 
his table. He was devoutly religious and had the bell rung twice every 
day for prayers in his household. In his zeal for the good of the church 
he built a small chapel in the fort in 1693, and the queen sent plate, 
books, and other furniture for it. Little is known of its history, how- 




AN EARLY DUTCH WINDMILL. 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



6l 



ever, as it was burned with the other buildings in 1741. Fletcher 
was succeeded by the distinguished nobleman, Lord Bellomont, in 1698, 
whose three years' administration was more stirring, eventful, and remark- 
able in its consequences, than that of any other in the history of colonial 
New York. He died on the 5th of March, 1701, and was interred with 
appropriate ceremonies in the chapel in the fort. Prior to the erection 
of the President's house upon the site of the fort in 1789, his leaden cofifin 
was tenderly removed to 'St. Paul's churchyard. 

Lieutenant-Governor Nanfan governed until the arrival of Lord Corn- 
bury, May 3d, 1702. The latter was the first cousin of Queen Anne, and 
heir to an earldom, with a handsome face very like that of the queen, and 




CASTI.E GARDEN IX 1852. 

{From an old print.~\ 



bland manners, but he was vain, arrogant, and weak, and earned a most 
unenviable reputation. He was succeeded in December, 1708, by John, 
Lord Lovelace, baron of Hurley, who was ill the entire Avinter, and died 
on the 6th of the following May. The next governor sent from England 
was Robert Hunter, a strong, active, cultivated man of middle age, with 
refined tastes, and a most genial and delightful companion. He was fond 
of men of letters, was a personal friend of Swift, Addison, Steele, and 
other distinguished literary characters of the period, and something of a 
poet himself. He married the lovely and accomplished Lady Hay, who 
accompanied him to New York, and was the bright particular star of his 
destiny. She drew about her a " court circle," in which the same etiquette 
and ceremony were observed as in the higher European coteries. Hunter 



62 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



purchased a house in Amboy, which was his official residence while on his 
tours of duty in New Jersey, and to which he often retired in the heat of 
summer. One winter, at his home in the fort, he composed a farce, 
assisted by the clever and witty Lewis Morris, called " Androborus " — the 

man-eater — in 

^W^^K^^^.^^^I^I^^^^^^^^fe, which the 

clergy, Nichol- 
son, and the 
New York 
Assembly were 
so humorously 
exposed that it 
provoked uni- 
versal merri- 
ment. 

Following 
Hunter, in 
1720, came 
Govern o r 
William Bur- 
net, son of the 
celebrated 
Bishop Burnet. 
His advent was 
an occasion of 
special interest. 
The fort was dressed in its best, the military paraded in full uniform, the 
whole city was alive with banners, and the cannon spoke an uproarious 
welcome. He was a large, handsome man, of stately presence, affable and 
captivating. The ladies all proceeded to fall in love with him. He was 
a widower, and within a few months married the pretty daughter of Abra- 
ham Van Home, one of his counselors. The fort henceforward was the 
scene of many festivities. Burnet bought Hunter's house in Amboy for a 
summer retreat, and spent a part of every year there until his removal in 
1728 to the government of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. His 
successor in New York was Governor John Montgomery, fresh from the 
king's court, a soldier by profession, who knew something of diplomacy, 
but had very slight capacity for governing. He died suddenly on the 1st 
of July, 1731. Governor William Cosby, who was appointed in his place, 
and arrived in the summer of 1732, brought his wife and young lady 




DESTRUCTION OF THE STATUE OF KING GEORGE ill. 

[ This egtiestrian statue, by fVi/ton, of London^ was erected in the Bowline; Green 
in 1770. // was pulled down on the evening of July g, 1776, amid the ringing of bells 
and jubilant shouts of the multitude^ 



HISTROIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



63 



daughters with him, and they attracted great attention. Their house in 
the fort soon became the scene of brilliant entertainments, which brought 
together the beauty, wit, and culture of the capital. The young noble- 
man. Lord Augustus Fitzroy, son of the duke of Grafton, then lord 
chamberlain to the king, was for some weeks the guest of the governor 
and his family in their house in the fort. He was in love with one of the 
governor's daughters, but neither father nor mother dared consent to the 
marriage, for, according to the standard of society in England, the match 
was beneath him. The young people finally settled the question for 




VltVV FROM THE HOWLING GREEN IN THE REVOLUTION. 

{From an old printi\ 

themselves. A clergyman was adroitly assisted over the rear wall of the 
fort, and performed the ceremony in secret without a license. Another 
romantic wedding occurred within the fort a little later — Miss Grace 
Cosby, the second daughter of the governor, being united to Thomas' 
Freeman. Three days after these nuptials the mayor of the city, the 
recorder, aldermen, assistants, and all the other city dignitaries, marched 
in a body to the gubernatorial residence in the fort, and in the most stately 
and formal manner congratulated the lovely Grace upon her marriage, 
and then said : 

" This corporation being desirous upon all occasions to demonstrate the great defer- 
ence they have and justly entertain for his excellency, William Cosby, and for his noble 



64 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




THE GOLD BOX OF THE CORPORATION, CONTAINING 
THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY. 



family, have ordered that the honorable 
Major Alexander Cosby, brother to his 
excellency, and lieutenant-governor of his 
majesty's garrison of Annapolis Royal, 
recently arrived, and Thomas Freeman, 
the governor's son-in-law, be presented 
with the freedom of the city in a gold box." 

Cosby was the most generally- 
disliked of any governor since Corn- 
bury. During his brief administra- 
tion the great Zenger trial occurred, 
of which the world has heard so 
much, and he was in perpetual con- 
flicts with some of the best men in 
the province. From this troublous 
epoch arose two great parties, differing materially from those which had 
previously shaken New York, and which ever afterward divided the 
people of the province. Cosby died March lo, 1736, and the house in 
the fort was again vacant. George Clarke, one of the counselors, who 
had been secretary of the province, and in public life in the city since 
1703, took charge of affairs, and was subsequently commissioned lieuten- 
ant-governor. He was from a prominent English family, and his wife 
was Ann Hyde, the cousin of Queen Anne. He removed his family 
to the house in the fort, and assumed all the powers and consequence 
of an executive chief. Mrs. Clarke was one of the most charming of 
women, and greatly beloved ; it is said that her sweetness of temper 
was such that nothing could ruffle it or draw an unkind criticism from 
her lips. Her generosity to the poor gave her the title of " Lady 
Bountiful." She died in the spring of 1740^ and the whole city was 
in tears. Clarke's seven years' administration was made memorable in 
history by the great negro plot of 1741. In March of that year his 
home in the fort was totally consumed by fire one morning, together 
with the little chapel, secretary's office, and several adjoining build- 
ings. A new governor's house was accordingly built, which was ready 
to receive Admiral Sir George Clinton on his arrival in September, 
1743. He landed at a new battery which had recently been constructed 
at the foot of Whitehall Street, and was ceremoniously conducted to 
the fort, the way being lined with soldiers in full dress, where he was 
treated to an elegant luncheon with many wines, and thence, as was 
customary on all such occasions, proceeded to the City Hall in Wall 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



65 




Street, where his 
commission was 
published, and 
the oaths of 
office adminis- 
tered. 

CHnton's wife 
and several chil- 
dren a c c o m - 
panied him to 
New York, and 
the greater part 
of each year the 
fort was their 
home. As gov- 
ernor of a very 
refractory prov- 
ince, he had an 
uneasy and an 
unenviable 
career, 

c o n s t a n t 1 }' 
engaged in un- 
profitable quarrels, and was treated with less respect by the principal 
New York men and by the assembly than any English officer who had 
hitherto governed the colony. He entertained many visitors, among 
whom was Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, into whose ear he poured 
his woes. Sir William Johnson was often his guest. He finally lost his 
health as well as his temper, and pleaded for permission to return to 
England. Sir Uanvers Osborne, brother-in-law of the earl of Halifax, 
a gentleman whose birth, connections, education, and excellent character 
fitted him admirably for the place, was sent to New York to relieve 
Clinton in 1753, and at the same time a commission as lieutenant- 
governor was forwarded to Chief Justice James De Lancey. As the 
latter was one of the most unbending of the opponents of Clinton's 
measures, and the people were uproarious with joy, the effect was most 
depressing to the new-comer. Sir Danvers landed on Sunday, October 
7, and Clinton being at his country seat in Flushing, Joseph Murray, 
one of the counselors, whose wife was Governor Cosby's daughter, and a 
relative of the late Lady Osborne, entertained him at his own residence. 



CELEBRATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTIOM IN I78S. 

[The most imposing pari of the gorgeous pageant was the Federal ship on ivheels, 
with Haittilton^s name emblazoned upon each side of it, its crew goitig througit 
rle was eziery nautical preparation and viovevtent for storms, calms, and squalls, as it 
moved slowly through the streets of Neiu York City. When opposite the Bowling 
Green a salute of thirteen guns was Jired?\ 



66 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




THE KENNEDV HOUSE, NO. I BROADWAY, OVERLOOKING THE BOWLING GREEN. 



On Monday Clinton 
came to town, and an 
elegant dinner was 
given to the two gov- 
ernors by the counsel- 
ors. On Wednesday, 
at the council-chamber 
in the fort, Clinton 
administered the oath 
of office to Sir Dan- 
vers, and delivered 
(very reluctantly) the 
commission to De 
Lancey. A procession 
was then formed ac- 
cording to ancient 
usage, and the new 
govern or was con- 
ducted to the City 
Hall to publish his 
commission. The party was scarcely outside the fort when De Lancey 
was cheered enthusiastically, while Clinton was so grossly insulted by the 
rabble that, to his intense mortification, he was obliged to turn back for 
refuge in the fort. Sir Danvers walked in silence beside the counselors, 
closely observing the noisy shouts of gladness with which De Lancey was 
greeted on every side. After his return to the council-chamber he 
received the address of the city corporation ; another dinner was given 
to the two governors in the afternoon, and in the evening the city was 
illuminated and brilliant fire-works displayed. Sir Danvers, however, 
was gloomy and silent. He told Clinton he expected like treatment to 
that which he had received ; and he remarked to De Lancey, " I shall 
soon leave you the government." Before the week ended, the city 
was shocked by the announcement that the new governor had Jianged 
himself. He had become convinced that he never could carry out his 
instructions from the king, particularly in relation to compelling a per- 
manent revenue from New York. De Lancey henceforward governed 
the colony until the arrival of Sir Charles Hardy in 1754, who, like 
Clinton, as an unlettered admiral, was better suited to the naval service, 
and the lords of trade soon made him a rear-admiral, and he sailed 
away. De Lancey again took the oaths and continued in the supreme 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



^7 




THE FIELD BUILDING, ON THE SITE OF THE KENNEDY HOUSE. THE BOWLING GREEN IN IC 



command until his death in 1760. Dr. Cadwallader Golden, as senior 
counselor, succeeded him, and shortly received the appointment of lieu- 
tenant-governor, which post he filled fourteen years, much of the time 
wielding supreme command. The four Britons who followed as chiefs of 
the colony, prior to the outbreak of the Revolution, were Major-General 
Monckton in 1761, for a brief period ; Sir Henry Moore in 1765, who died in 
the fort in 1769; the earl of Dunmore in 1770, occupying the executive 
chair nine months ; and Sir William Tryon, Bart., in 1771. 



68 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 

Meanwhile, four native New-Yorkers as senior counselors had each 
administered the affairs of the colony under the crown — Abraham de 
Peyster in 1701, following the death of Lord Bellomont ; Dr. Gerardus 
Beekman in 1709, following the death of Lord Lovelace; Peter Schuyler 
in 1719, following the resignation of Hunter; and Rip van Dam in 1731, 
following the death of Montgomery. These eminent characters, as well as 
the other counselors from time to time, were more or less associated with 
the old historic fort. Ever since Lord Bellomont's day New York had 
been growing affluent and aristocratic. The landed gentry had city homes 
for the winter, as a rule, and lived in what Englishmen called " gilded 
luxury." There were many importing merchants in New York owning 
their own ships, who accumulated vast wealth in commercial enterprises, 
and in their frequent trips to European countries were perfectly familiar 
with the style of living among the best people of the world. Children 
were sent abroad to be educated much more frequently than now. At 
social entertainments guests were nearly all of one class, the majority were 
related by blood or marriage, and the etiquette of foreign courts was 
observed with a nicety that can scarcely be comprehended in this demo- 
cratic generation. 

Opposite the fort, on the site of the present Field building, stood the 
well-known Kennedy house. No. i Broadway, of late years the Washing- 
ton hotel. Captain Archibald Kennedy, for whom it was named, was 
the son of Hon. Archibald Kennedy, receiver-general, and counselor 
through many decades to a long line of governors residing in the fort. He 
left a handsome private fortune to his son, the young captain in the royal 
navy above mentioned, who married Catharine, the only daughter of the 
brave Colonel Peter Schuyler of New Jersey, who made such a brilliant 
record in the French and Indian war. The bride, whose mother was the 
daughter of John Walter, a man of great wealth, residing in Hanover square, 
inherited three distinct fortunes, that of her father, that of her grandfather 
Walter, and that of Richard Jones; but she did not live long to enjoy her 
riches. The site of the Kennedy house was originally the property of Arent 
Schuyler, brother of Peter Schuyler first mayor of Albany, and the father 
of Colonel Peter, of later renown. Eve, the daughter of Arent Schuyler, 
married Peter Bayard, to whom in his will Schuyler gave the lot of ground 
on lower Broadway; in June, 1745, according to the abstract of title, Mrs. 
Eve Bayard, then a widow, sold the lot to Archibald Kennedy, the wit- 
nesses to the sale being Philip Van Cortlandt and Colonel Peter Schuyler, 
her brother. The house was designed after the most approved English 
model. It had a broad, handsome front, with a carved doorway, broad 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 69 

halls, grand staircases, and spacious rooms. The parlor was some fifty 
feet long, with a graceful bow opening upon a rear porch, large enough for 
a cotillion party. The banqueting hall was a magnificent apartment, with 
walls and ceilings artistically decorated. In its palmy days its grounds 
extended to the water's edge, and were handsomely terraced and culti- 
vated with fastidious care. After the death of his first wife Captain 
Kennedy married Ann Watts, the daughter of Hon. John Watts, whose 
home was a great old-time edifice adjoining that of Kennedy. The rooms 
in the second stories of the two houses were connected by a staircase and 
bridge in the rear, for convenience when either family gave large parties. 
The Watts garden like those of its neighbors extended to the water, and 
was overlooked by a broad piazza that was often kissed by the spray in a 
high wind. Kennedy afterward became the eleventh earl of Cassalis, and 
his eldest son, born in this house, was not only the twelfth earl of Cassalis, 
but the first marquis of Ailsa. 

Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey's home, at the time he received 
his commission from the king, was a spacious mansion in Broadway, on 
the site of the present Boreel building. Much has been said about the 
historic associations of the old City Hotel, but prior to 1793 the explorers 
of to-day seem to extract very little light. It is an interesting fact that 
the entire block above Trinity church was the site formerly of one^of the 
handsomest private dwellings in New York. It was erected by Etienne 
De Lancey (or Stephen, as Anglicized), the son of a French Huguenot 
nobleman, who brought to New York in 1686 many evidences of wealth 
and culture. He engaged in commercial enterprises, and became one of 
the richest men in the province. In 1700, he married the daughter of 
Hon. Stephanus Van Cortlandt, and the latter conveyed to him the 
property in Pearl Street, corner of Broad, on which he built the old home- 
stead, still standing with two added stories, and known as " Fraunces' 
Tavern," which enjoys the distinction of being labeled with a crude 
board sign bearing the words " Washington's Headquarters," it having 
been immortalized by the presence of our great chief, and particularly as 
the scene of Washington's parting with his officers at the close of the 
Revolution. After residing in this home for a quarter of a century or 
more, Etienne De Lancey moved into his new and larger house in Broad- 
way, which at his death, in 1741, became the property of his eldest son, 
James, the Heirtenant-governor. It was an immense edifice for the period, 
all its decorations and appointments costly and elegant, and it was 
encircled by balconies, with a broad piazza on the river side, command- 
ing one of the most beautiful views in the world, while its cultivated 



yo HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 

gardens and grounds with winding walks and stairs extended to the 
water's edge. What is now Thames Street was the carriage-way to the 
stables. 

Admiral Sir Peter Warren was one of the frequent and favored guests 
in this New York home, and here he courted and married Susan, the 
beautiful daughter of Etienne De Lancey. It was here also that her cap- 
tivating sister Anne, the belle of the household, gave her heart and hand 
to John Watts, who, like her brother James, had been liberally educated 
in Europe. One of the tutors of young De Lancey at Cambridge was 
Dr. Thomas Herring, who became successively Bishop of Bangor, Arch- 
bishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury, and the master and pupil 
kept up an intimacy by letter long after the one became primate of all 
England and the other chief-justice and lieutenant-governor of New York. 
The genius and marvelous abilities of James De Lancey have rendered him 
a conspicuous figure of the century prior to the Revolution, No ruler 
of the province, foreign or domestic, ever exerted more healthful influ- 
ence, or possessed to such a degree the elements of popularity. His 
bearing was princely, as if born to command ; but the people, knowing 
that he was the richest man in America, instead of a foreign invader 
seeking to enrich himself with their surplus earnings, pinned their faith 
to his honesty, because he could have, they thought, no possible motive 
for stealing the public money. He was intellectually strong, extremely 
affable and condescending to inferiors, and his scholarship, culture, mag- 
netic presence, vivacity, and wit made him a favorite with all classes. 
His political opponents were many and sometimes atrociously mali- 
cious, and he could not with grace tolerate opinions differing from 
his own — was haughty and overbearing whenever he was thwarted 
in his purposes. At the same time, neither the elegance of his 
style of living nor his beautiful horses and gilded chariot, with out- 
riders in handsome livery, excited envy or criticism. New York was 
proud of him. His tact and statesmanship were brought into full play 
after the suicide of Sir Danvers Osborne, in adjusting the permanent 
revenue question, which had rankled for two-thirds of a century, and 
been the source of more torment to the English governors, and angry 
retort and resistance on the part of New York's little parliament, than 
all other subjects combined. De Lancey, as a jurist of great legal acumen, 
had repeatedly advised the legislators never to submit to 'the unreason- 
able demands of the crown. As a full-fledged officer of the crown he 
must now obey instructions, the same as those which his predecessors 
had found so thorny. The difficulty of the position was only equaled by 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



71 



its delicacy. In address- 
ing the assembly he 
chose such language as 
won the confidence of 
the ministry, and at the 
same time convinced his 
audience that he was not 
about to compel obedi- 
ence to ministerial orders. 
He urged that support- 
bills should be so framed 
that he could act in rela- 
tion to them consistent 
with his official duty — 
and the members were 
unrufBed, believing that V^ 
the genius of the man 
who had been their chief 
adviser for twenty years, 
and had proved himself a 
lover of the country of 
his birth as well as a just l^vf"' 
judge, would guide them 
safely even through the 
perils of continued oppo- 
sition. When the bill for his salary on the old plan was sent for his 
approval, he promptly rejected it, and sent all the resolutions and 
addresses concerning the measure to the ministry, and whenever he could 
do so with propriety he wrote to the chief men in England counseling 
concession to the iron opinions and wishes of New York. 

He continued to decline assenting to the annual money bills, and for 
three years received no salary. Finally, the battle was won in triumph 
for New York, the ministry in 1756 assenting to annual support-bills for' 
the future, and the spirited controversy was settled. De Lancey was in 
correspondence personally, as well as officially, with English statesmen 
during the critical period of the war with France, and his opinions and 
suggestions were noted and quoted at the court of St. James. He did 
not hve long enough to exert his powerful influence against taxing the 
colonies. The French war had proved severely costly, and the lords, while 
sipping their wine at the king's table, said there was wealth enough in 




CHANCELLOR ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 

{After painting in possession of Netu York Historical Society.] 



72 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




ClXy HOTEL, ON HISTORIC SITE OF THE OLD DE LANCEV HOiME. TRINITY AND GRACE CHURCHES IN 183I. 

[From an old print.'\ 



New York alone to pay the whole debt of England, and graphic stories 
were told of the triumphal reception and prodigal entertainments given to 
ofificers of the British army in the spring of 1760, with special descriptions 
of the display of " brilliant massive silver " at William Walton's dinners 
in the old Walton house in Franklin square. The colonists, they argued, 
were wasting their substance in mad extravagance. The next day in par- 
liament the subject assumed grave proportions. Before the news of how 
this logic was being turned to account reached New York, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor De Lancey suddenly died at his beautiful country-seat in the 
Bowery, just above Canal Street, 30th July, 1760. His sister, Lady War- 
ren, who was in England, went immediately to Secretary Pitt and asked 
that her younger brother, Oliver De Lancey, might be appointed to the 
vacant office. The minister received the application coldly. " I hope," 
exclaimed the lady with warmth, " that you have had reason to be satisfied 
with the brother I have lost ? " 

" Madam," was the answer, " had your brother James lived in England, 
he would have been one of the first men in the kingdom." 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




THE BOREEL BUILDING, ON HISTORIC 



SITE OF CITV HOTEL. VIEW OF TRINITY 



CHURCH IN i88q. 



74 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 

The mansion in Broadway then became the property of the lieutenant- 
governor's eldest son, James, by whom it was given by deed, i6th May, 
1765, to his brother John Peter, the younger son of the lieutenant-governor, 
who was sent to England to be educated — at Harrow and at the mili- 
tary school of Greenwich — and after a time entered the British army, but 
took no part in the war with America ; thus his estates were not confiscated. 
This edifice, being the largest of its kind in the city, was rented for a 
hotel. It had various proprietors by whose names it was successively 
called, and for nearly three decades it was the leading public house, the 
Delmonico of the time. During the Revolution it was the favorite resort 
of the British ofificers on account of its piazzas and balconies, and its prox- 
imity to the fashionable promenade in front of Trinity church, called 
" The Mall." It had a great ball-room, where dancing assemblies and 
concerts and grand dinner-parties were given. It was the scene of the 
great ball given on the 7th of May, 1789, in honor of Washington's inau- 
guration as President — usually spoken of as the first " inauguration ball." 

Having returned from England to reside permanently in New York, 
John Peter De Lancey took advantage of the rise in real estate and sold this 
property, conveying it by deed on the 23d of March, 1793, to Philip Liv- 
ingston, John Watts, Thomas Buchanan, Gulian Verplanck, James Watson, 
Moses Rogers, James Farquhar, Richard Harrison, and Daniel Ludlow, 
in trust " for all the subscribers to the New York Tontine Hotel and 
Assembly Room, upon such conditions, and with right of survivorship, as 
should be settled by the majority of the said subscribers or their represen- 
tatives." The consideration was ^6,000 New York currency. This '' syn- 
dicate," as it would now be called, pulled the old house down and built 
the City Hotel. Its history from that date until 1849, if recited, would fill 
a volume replete with instructive and captivating incidents. Its great 
banqueting hall accommodated five hundred guests at table. This hotel 
was for a long period the only place in the city where large public enter- 
tainments could be given. It stood until 1849, when it was taken down 
and a row of brown-stone stores erected on its site. The estate, purchased 
by John Jacob Astor, was settled upon his granddaughter, Sarah Langdon, 
who married Francis R. Boreel, a Dutch nobleman, chamberlain to the 
king of Holland, and who a few years since removed the stores and 
erected the great Boreel building on the historic site. 

The quarter nearest the fort was the court end of the town prior to the 
Revolution, although a few consequential families had even then removed 
to Wall Street and vicinity. The west side of Broadway was a charming 
place of residence until streets came to pass between them and the river, 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



75 




VIEW OF BROADWAY FROM THE BOWLING GREEN, l8 

{From an old print. ^ 



and nothing could exceed the beauty of the outlook from the State Street 
mansions below the fort, which remain to this day. The third house in the 
Broadway row, adjoining that of Hon. John Watts, was the home of 
Judge Robert R. Livingston, father of the chancellor, who died in 1776. 
The journey of this family to and from their manor-house at Clermont 
every spring and autumn was imposing, for they were attended by a long 
train of men-servants and maid-servants, and the transportation by sloop 
or by land occupied many days. At the time of Washington's inaugura- 
tion this house was occupied by Chancellor Livingston, and it was here 
that Washington came to see the fireworks on the evening of that memor- 
able day, April 30, 1789. 

Next to this stood the interesting home of John Stevens, one of the 
counselors until 1776, whose wife was the daughter of the great lawyer and 
mathematician, James Alexander, and the sister of Lord Stirling. Their 
daughter became the wife of Chancellor Livingston ; and their son John, 
born in 1 749, who was associated with this old mansion through all his school 
days, graduating from King's college in 1768 (in the same class with Egbert 
Benson, Gouverneur Morris, and Bishop Moore) was the celebrated inventor 
of steamships, who owned the whole of what is now Hoboken, where he 
had a summer residence. He and his son, Robert Livingston Stevens, 



'j6 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 

were the foremost men of any country to venture upon the ocean in a 
vessel relying entirely upon steam power. The next two houses, Nos. 9 
and II, were built together, presenting a peculiar front, but they were 
deep, and much more roomy than they seemed to the passer-by, and had 
extensive grounds in the rear filled with shubbery and flowers. They were 
originally the property of the Van Cortlandts of Kingsbridge ; No. ii 
was the inheritance of Eve, daughter of Frederick and Frances Jay Van 
Cortlandt, who married Hon. Henry White, the counselor and one of the 
founders and fourth president of the Chamber of Commerce. White was 
notably one of the consignees of the tea — forbidden merchandise — the 
shipment of which caused such excitement in the winter of i773-'74. 
The tea-ships reached Boston first, and the world is aware how the issue 
was met. But every one may not be so well informed as to the peremptory 
and public manner in which New York sent back her tea-ship to the 
country whence it came without permitting the tea to be landed. All the 
bells in the city rang for an hour without stopping while the captain was 
being escorted from his lodgings to the wharf at the Battery, the band 
playing meanwhile " God save the King ; " and an immense but orderly 
crowd watched his embarkation and the departure of the vessel in a man- 
ner that expressed the sense of the community. White had no sympathy 
with the patriots. He went to England when the city was evacuated in 
1783, where he died in 1786. His estates were among the earliest confis- 
cated. His residence had been in Queen Street, nearly opposite Pine, in 
the elegant old mansion built by Treasurer Abraham de Peyster in 1695, 
and purchased by White after the death of Abraham de Peyster, Jr., in 1769. 
It was a great double house, three stories high, the grounds occupying the 
whole block, with a coach-house and stable in the rear. It is interesting 
to note in this connection that Governor George Clinton was living in this 
house at the time of the inauguration of our first President, and that it 
was where Washington as President-elect, and the committees by whom he 
was received, dined on the 23d of April, 1789, the day of his arrival in 
New York from Mount Vernon. 

Mrs. White did not accompany her husband to England. She had 
great wealth of her own, and her daughters were gifted, beautiful, and 
much admired in society. Margaret became the wife of Peter Jay Munro. 
One of Mrs. White's sons was Lieutenant-General White of the British 
army, and another was Rear Admiral White of the royal navy. Mrs. 
White occupied this house until her death in 1836, at the age of ninety- 
nine years. The two dwellings were then converted into a public house 
known as the " Atlantic Garden," which was pulled down a few years ago ; 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



77 




NEAR VIEW OF THE TWO HISTORIC HOMES, NOS. Q AND II BROADWAY. 
AFTER 1836 CONVERTED INTO THE "ATLANTIC GARDEN." 

curiously enough historic fiction had misled some persons into identifying it 
with the Burns coffee-house where the famous non-importation agreement 
was signed, October 31, 1765, thus sundry chairs and canes were made 
from its rafters to preserve as precious relics. But the Burns coffee-house 
was farther up Broadway, and the relics lost their fancied value. 

The homes of the Van Homes, the Lawrences, the Ludlows, the 
Clarksons, and many others, were in full view of the fort. Hon. David 
Clarkson was a grandson of the Matthew Clarkson who was thirteen years 
secretary of the province, appointed by William and Mary, and connected, 
with the English nobility. He resided in a grand mansion in Whitehall 
Street, corner of Pearl, for at least twenty-five years prior to the Revolu- 
tion — a mansion which the newspapers of the day called an " ornament 
to the city." His wife was sister to the wife of Governor William Living- 
ston. His house was sumptuous in its appointments, its furniture, costly 
table service, silver-plate, works of art, and extensive library, chiefly 
imported from London. His family were influential in social affairs. In 
1767 a letter appears written by Mr. Clarkson to a personal friend in 



7^ 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




THE CLARKSON HOUSE, IN WHITEHALL STREET. 



^^' England, requesting that the 

wife of his correspondent 
shall do a little shopping for 
Mrs, Clarkson- — to buy for 
her " twenty-four yards of 
best bright blue satin, and a 
fashionable winter cloak of 
crimson satin for her own 
use." The household serv- 
ants were chiefly slaves, as 
they were in all opulent New 
York families. Mr. Clark- 
son's fine house with all its 
treasures was burned in 1776, 
and about the same time his 
summer residence in Flat- 
bush was plundered by the 
Hessian soldiers, who had a 
royal drunken frolic over his 
choice wines which they dis- 
covered. His son, the afterward distinguished General Matthew Clark- 
son, purchased in 1793 the site of the old Clarkson house in Whitehall 
Street, and built thereon the substantial three-story brick mansion of the 
sketch in which he lived until his death in 1825. He married Mary, 
the beautiful daughter of Walter Rutherfurd. He was the president of the 
bank of New York some twenty-ont years, and his name is associated 
with the foundation of nearly all the early important societies of New 
York, whether intended for education, culture, or charity. Chancellor 
Kent said of him: " It belongs to Christianity alone to form and animate 
such a character." 

The great fire of 1776 swept away all the dwellings on the north side 
of Whitehall Street. The first French Huguenot church edifice in New 
York was built in Marketfield Street in 1688, and with its gallery, which 
was added in 1692, seated " from three to four hundred persons." The site 
is now entirely covered by the Produce Exchange, the west end of old 
Marketfield Street being closed to permit its erection. The governor's 
house in the fort was burned the second time during Governor Sir William 
Tryon's administration. It was a cold night in December, 1773, and the 
governor's family escaped with much difficulty, one servant perishing in • 
the flames. Tryon then took up his abode in a large house in Broad 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



79 




^ :« 



5 ^ 



8o 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



Street. Dock Street con- 
tained the elegant residence 
of Hugh Wallace, who enter- 
tained Tryon on his return 
home from England in 1775. 
Isaac Low was his neighbor, 
of whom John Adams said 
in 1774: " He is a gentle- 
man of fortune and his wife 
is a beauty." 

The historic homes over- 
looking the fort and the Bay 
were legion, and nearly all 
occupied by families whose 
names are well represented 
in the New York of to-day. 
When peace came to bless 
the country, and a President 
came to charm New York 
with his presence, it was fit- 
ting that soil so thoroughly 
saturated with historic 
reminiscence as the site of 
the old fort, a central point in this antique vicinity, should be selected 
above all others for the erection of the stately edifice intended for Presi- 
dent Washington's home, and for the occupancy of all future heads of the 
nation. After the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia the 
structure was finished and appropriated to the uses of the governors of New 
York, as had been its predecessors on the same ground. It was con- 
structed of red brick, with Ionic columns, and was a striking example of 
the tendency of the period toward the severely classical in domestic archi- 
tecture. Governor George Clinton was the first to reside in it some three 
or four years. John Jay, who had been the first chief-justice of the state, 
and the first chief-justice of the nation, as well as one of the ministers in 
1783 who negotiated and signed the definite treaty of peace in Europe, and 
the Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the five most critical years of 
America's history, was elected governor of New York in 1795, and resided 
in this grand house six years, until the end of his term of service in 1801. 

Of the elegances of social life during the period, of the beauty and 
grace of Mrs. Jay as the presiding genius of the governor's household, of 




MRS. JOHN JAY. 

[^Frojn a painting in possession of the family \ 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



Si 




JOHN JAY, FIRST CHIEF-JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES. GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, I795-1801. 



the fashionable entertainments, and the distinguished people who met in 
these spacious rooms, we obtain glimpses here and there, but must leave 
our readers to trace them between the lines. A foreign writer gives us the 
following informing paragraph : 

" The first society of New York associate together in a style of elegance and splendor 
little inferior to Europeans. Their houses are furnished with everything that is useful, 
agreeable, or ornamental ; and many of them are fitted up in the tasteful magnificence of 
modern luxury. Many have elegant equipages. The dress of the gentlemen is plain, 
elegant, and fashionable, and corresponds in every respect with the English costume. The 



82 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 




THE LUDLOW-MORTON HOUSE, NO. 9 STATE STREET. 



ladies in general seem more partial to 
the light, various, and dashing drapery 
of the Parisian belles, than to the ele- 
gant and becoming attire of our Lon- 
don beauties, who improve upon the 
French fashions. The winter is passed 
in a round of entertainments and 
amusements. The servants are mostly 
negroes or mulattoes ; some free, and 
others slaves. Marriages are con- 
ducted in the most splendid style, 
and form a most important part of the 
winter's entertainments. For three 
days after the marriage ceremony the 
newly married couple see company in 
great state. It is a sort of levee. 
Sometimes the night concludes with a 
concert and ball." 

The newspapers in Novem- 
ber, 1796, chronicle a marriage 
and reception of this character 
at the governor's mansion as 
follows: "Married on the 3d at his Excellency's, John Jay, Governor, 
Government House, John Livingston, of the Manor of Livingston, to Mrs. 
Catharine Ridley, daughter of the late Governor William Livingston." 
The bride was Mrs. Jay's accomplished and piquant sister, Kitty Livingston, 
who in 1787 became the wife of Matthew Ridley, of Baltimore, and after 
brief wedded happiness was left a widow. 

One of the romantic social events of June, 1797, was the marriage 
of the celebrated Josiah Quincy to Miss Eliza Susan Morton, in the 
old Ludlow-Morton house. No. 9 State Street. The father of the bride 
was John Morton, styled the " rebel banker" by the British officers, on 
account of the large sums of money he loaned the continental congress. 
The brother of the bride was General Jacob Morton, a prominent public 
character in New York city for nearly half a century, who married, in 
1 791, Catharine, the daughter of Carey Ludlow, and the Ludlow mansion 
henceforward was his home. The president of Princeton college, Rev. 
Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, made the journey to New York to perform 
the ceremony, the lady having been a favorite in his family. The follow- 
ing day, the wedded pair started for Boston in a coach drawn by four 
horses, and were five days in reaching their future home. Moses Rogers, 
of the great firm of Woolsey and Rogers, resided for many years 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



83 



at No. 7 State Street. His wife was the sister of President Dwight of 
Yale college, who visited them frequently. At No. 6, lived James Wat- 
son, the first president of the New England society of New York, in 
whose parlors that society was founded in 1805. These State Street houses 
overflow with charming historic memories although shorn of their balconies 
and other beauties; very little remains of former architectural elegance. 
The Battery grounds in front of them have undergone extraordinary 
changes. Castle Garden, as it was when Jenny Lind immortalized it with 




VIEW OF THE STATE STREET HOMES FRONTING THE BATTERY, IN 1859. 

\_Fro7H an old ^rint^ 



her sweet voice, is expressed in the picture. The government house was 
turned into offices after John Jay retired from it, and was the home of 
innumerable societies and institutions struggling for life. The New York 
Historical Society occupied rooms in it from 1809 to 181 5, when it was 
taken down, and seven dwelling-houses erected on its site. Stephen 
Whitney lived in one of these for many years, also Samuel Ward, of the 
firm of Prime, Ward and King, the brother-in-law of Dr. Francis, and the 
active founder of churches, institutions, and charities. John Hone, brother 
of Mayor Philip Hone, dwelt in the same row ; and during the period, 
Nathaniel Prime's city residence was in the Kennedy house, No. i Broad- 



84 



HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 



way, while John Watts, son of the counselor, one of the founders of the 
Leake and Watts Orphan Home in 1831, and a munificent donor to 
other philanthropic objects, occupied the stately old Watts mansion 
adjoining. Fashion pushed in a northerly direction for many generations 
before the residents near the Battery were disturbed. Among the mag- 
nificent spectacles from their windows, nothing probably, after the Inau- 
guration of Washington, ever exceeded the pageant on the occasion of 
the canal celebration in 1825. It was like a bewildering fairy scene. 
The magnificent and gorgeously decorated fleet formed a circle about the 










':<%' iMyi^' 



-^ 



canal boat from Lake Erie of some three miles in circumference, when De 
Witt Clinton, with great solemnity, poured from an elegant keg adorned 
with many devices and inscriptions, and gilded hoops, the waters of Lake 
Erie into the Atlantic ocean. Medals of very beautiful design and work- 
manship were given to all the invited guests of the corporation on this 
occasion, both ladies and gentlemen ; and fifty-one gold medals were 
struck and sent to the different crowned heads of the world and eminent 
men. These were inclosed in elegant square red morocco cases. The 
silver medals, of which there were several hundred, were inclosed in boxes 
made from logs of cedar brought from an island in Lake Erie. The 
" canal celebration ball " was instituted on a grand scale. Some three 
thousand guests were present, including Governor and Mrs. Clinton. One 
of the belles of the evening wrote at a late hour : " We met all the world 




EVACUATION OP NEW YORK." 
COPV OP TRUMBULI.'S PAMOUS PAINTING IN THE CITY HAL.. 

iEn,rar,e,for ike Ma.a^ine of A.nerican History for No.e,u,er 1883.J 



86 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS 

and his wife ; military heroes, noble statesmen, artificial and natural 
characters, the audacious, the clownish, the polished and refined, but we 
were squeezed to death, are sleepy and heartily tired." 

It is but a few steps, seemingly, from the Bowling Green to Trinity 
church, at the head of Wall Street, which was a pile of ruins at the time 
of the Inauguration of Washington, It was rebuilt and consecrated, 
March 25, 1790, and a richly ornamented pew with a canopy over it was 
occupied by President Washington and his family on that occasion. The 
present Trinity church edifice was erected in 1846. The church-yard 
which surrounds the structure is an endearing memorial of the varied and 
interesting elements of character which have contributed to the present 
greatness of New York city. Alongside the noisiest and busiest thor- 
oughfare in America it surprises and interests the stranger, and leads him 
to pause beside its railings and peer with inquiring eyes into its sycamore 
shades, where the distinguished scions of Europe's nobility sleep on the 
same level with our own brave sons and fair daughters, and where talent, 
wit, beauty, worth, and patriotism share equally in the consecrated rest. 
The tomb of Alexander Hamilton can be seen from the sidewalk, whose 
tragic fate crowned what his genius had already achieved — an immortalized 
name ; and when the sublime scene of one hundred years ago is commem- 
orated in Wall Street on the 30th of April next, the impressive fact will 
be brought freshly home to the public mind that one of the most brilliant 
and powerful actors in the events which preceded and made Washington's 
Presidency a possibility, sleeps so marvelously near the spot where the 
political, commercial, financial, social, and domestic roots of a great 
country's life were first planted, that the inscription upon his monument 
can almost be read from the platform where our distinguished guests will 
stand assembled. 



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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BOSTON CADETS. 



The First Corps of Cadets of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, the body- 
guard of the Governors of Massachusetts, originated in 1741, as the Independent 
Company of Cadets, under Governor William Shirley, at Boston, where it is still 
located. 

Lieutenant Colonel John Hancock, afterward President of the Continental 
Congress, and first signer of the Declaration of Independence, was commander of 
the company in 1774, when General Gage, on the i6th of May, arrived at Boston to 
assume the duties of Governor of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and, in 
accordance with established custom, was escorted by the Cadets from the wharf to the 
Council Chamber. 

Colonel Hancock's political sentiments, however, were so incompatible with 
those of the Governor, that Gage, in the following August, dismissed him from the 
command of the corps, whereupon its members returned the Governor a standard he 
had presented, informing him at the same time, that, as they thought his dismissal of 
their commander equivalent to a disbandment, they no longer considered themselves 
the " Governor's Company of Independent Cadets." 

In the stirring events that followed, the company took no part as an organization, 
whatever its members may have done individually; but after the besieged British 
troops evacuated Boston in 1776, many of the members came together again as the 
"Independent Company," and again chose Hancock as their colonel, although he 
was at that time in Philadelphia. 

He accepted, and had the full rank of colonel ; the office, however, was appar- 
ently honorary rather than active. 

Why the word "Cadets" was dropped from the official title does not appear, 
but contemporaneous newspapers and letters, in popular mention, supply the omission. 

Two years later, the company, under the immediate command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Hichborn, marched to Rhode Island, and was in service there as a part of 
the Revolutionary forces ; but, like all the militia, of the country, the Cadets were 
dormant at the time of peace in 1783. 

After the establishment of the State Government, the corps was revived as the 
"Independent Company of Cadets" in the Summer of 1786, and were on service 
in the troubles caused by Shays' Rebellion. 

No suspension of its active existence has occurred since that year. 

When President Washington visited Boston on the 24th of October, 1789, this 
corps of Cadets had the honor of escorting him, and has performed the same office 
for every President of the United States who has visited Boston, besides many other 
distinguished personages. 

The Corps was on duty, locally, at the time of -the war of 181 2. 

During the war of the Rebellion it was in the United States service at Fort 
Warren for six weeks ; but its chief aid to the Government was in furnishing many 
officers for the Union armies. 



ScRiBNER'S Magazine. 



The publishers aim to make it the most popular 
and enterprising of periodicals, while at all times 
preserving its high literary character. 25,000 new 
readers have been drawn to it during the past six 
months by the increased excellence of its contents 
(notably the Railway articles), and it closes its 
second year with a new impetus and an assured 
success. The illustrations will show some new 
effects, and nothing to make Scribner's Maga- 
zine attractive and interesting will be neglected. 



" ScRiBNER has had many novelties and surprises to 
offer its reader in the course of its short and memorable 
history, but the chief of them perhaps is the admirable 
skill and intelligence with which its high level has not 
only been maintained, but constantly advanced." 

— New York Times, Oct. 25, 1888. 



$3.00 a year; 25 cents a number. 



©/i ©0uver)ir ot ttZ asr)ir)qf or) s I^Gtirjfzp. 

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF 

GILBERT STUART. 

By GEORGE C. MASON. 

I Vol. 4to. $10.00. With 12 Portraits on Steel, on 
■Wood and by Photogravure. 



This life of Washington's great painter was 
written at the wish and with the co5peration of 
Miss Jane Stuart, the daughter of the painter. It 
has everywhere been pronounced as the most im- 
portant contribution to the literature of American art 
ever made. Stuart's great portraits of Washington 
are given reproduction in this book. The " Gibbs 
portrait" is given in photogravure and in steel; 
the "Athenjeum portraits" of George and Martha 
Washington are both reproduced in photogravure, 
and a special chapter is devoted to a description 
of the artist's great portraits of Washington. 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 743-745 Broadway, N.Y. 




A glance at above Cut reveals in the background a single sheet or slab of wood, and in the fore an air- 
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1 1 till Ti l I I *"* ^^^ Lovers of Fine Teas 

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FIN&ER NAILS BEAUTIFIED FOR 75 Cts. By Fonr SBUfiil Laiy Operators. 

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O * ffi O * 



o * ^ o * 



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Dr. J. PARKER PRAY, 

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Unequaled for beautifying the Skin, Lips and Finger Nails. 

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for whitening the 
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Two sizes, 25 and 
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ONGOLINE 

for bleaching and 
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PLIXINE. 

A harmless appli- 
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OLIVINE 
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A dressing for all 
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Box, 50 cts. 




Diamond Hail Gnamel. 

The quickest, most brilliant and lasting nail polish; fine 
and free from grit, color beautiful; does not stain ; fragrant 
perfume ; washing does not afiect the polish. 

Large Square Box, above style, 50 cents. 

The old origrinal diamond box of 1878, . . 25 " 



An invaluable 
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the lips, cheeks 
and nails a rosy 
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Pod^etEmeryBoarl 

My patent design, 
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MaDicnre Cases. 

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O S O 



o o 



® o e o 



Office and Salesroom, 38 W. 23d St., New York, U. S. A. 

^^ ESTABLISHED 1868. ^> 



WEBSTER & WHITE, 

^teriing f&W, fWw piate, Cutlery 



-AND- 



FIPM JMMMIiM¥, 



►*- 



NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 

MERIDEN SILVER PLATE CO. QUADRUPLE PLATED WARE 

AWD 

TOWLE MANUFACTURING CO. STERLING SILVER. 

^ 

No. 30 East 14th Street (Union Square,) - NEW YORK. 

Edward A. Morrison, 



1- 



-^ 



-(^ 



CARRIAGE ENTRANCE, 

13 East Nineteenth Street. 



EXCLUSIVE STYLES IN 

CMlta's Coats, Dresses ani CosUffles. 



INfANTS' WEAR OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 



T>IIT>y BasHets, Cradles 
DUD 1 and Gribs. 

RICH NOVELTIES IN 

M$$ Trimming? and Buiston?. 



No. 893 BroadAPvay. 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH 



BONNETS 



and Round 
gats. 



DRESS AND BREAKFAST CAPS A SPECIALTY. 



taces, Smbroideries and 

jland^erchiefg. 



BRENTANO'S, 

Publishers, Booksellers, Stationers and Newsdealers, 

NEW YORK— 5 Union Square, 
WASHINGTON, D. C— 1015 Pennsylvania Ave., PARIS— 17 Ave. de I'Opera, 

CHICAGO— loi State Street, LONDON— 430 Strand. 

BRENTANO'S, 

Beg to announce the opening of their estabUshment in 

LONDON: 430 Strand, 

and direct attention to their well-estabHshed 

PARIS HOUSE: No. 17 Av«. de I'Opera. 

It is their intention to make these branches the headquarters of Americans in 
Europe, by offering them all possible facilities for keeping fully informed of the 
doings of American authors and publishers. They propose also to offer to the Eng- 
lish and Continental reading public an opportunity to acquaint itself perfectly with 
current American literature. The latest issues of all the leading American dailies, 
weeklies and monthlies, will be constantly kept in stock, as will be complete lines of 
Continental literature. 

A complete stock of books in all departments of literature, and embracing the 
classic, standard and modern authors, together with a representative stock of French, 
German, Spanish and Italian literature, will be found in our respective establishments. 
Inquiries cheerfully and promptly answered. 



GRAMMARS DICTIONARIES Our list of works used for the acquirement and study of French, German, 

READERS ETC ' Spanish, or any of the foreign languages, is the most complete in the United 

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particular studies. 

OUR SUBSCRIPTION This is a leading department of our business. Periodicals devoted to the 

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ULrnniintni. ^^^ ^^ selected from our immense and varied list of newspapers and period- 

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to any address at the same price as at the office of publication. We are special agents for American and 
Foreign Publications. 

<«$— o^o—$^ 

BOOK CHAT. 

is simply of incalculable value to any one who, by reason of his or her profession, or for other causes, may require an 
instantaneous reference to any topic treated upon in the publications issuing from day to day. The ability to keep posted 
on what is appearing on any special subject, whether in the form of books, or as an article in magazine or periodical liter- 
ature, is given to any one who will subscribe to BOOK CHAT. It gives a synopsis of all books ; an index to all peri- 
odical literature, properly classified under subjects ; and, in addition, a complete survey of new books in all departments 
of literature. 

10 CENTS PER COPY. »1.00 PER YEAR. 

BRENTANO'S, 

Publishers, Booksellers, Stationers and Newsdealers, 

NEW YORK— 5 Union Square, 
WASHINGTON, D. C— 1615 Pennsylvania Ave., PARIS— 17 Ave. de I'Opera, 

CHICAGO— loi State Street, LONDON— 430 Strand. 




rrr 




Call attention to the display of 
SXClLiXTSIVE: NOVEI^TIEIS 

IN 

Liadies', Misses' and Children's 

DEESSES, COSTUMES, JACKETS, WRAPS, 

LONG CLOTH GARl>rENTS, ETC., 

ALSO, 

&1P-E.CJ.A.1^ OFFEFtXrTGS 

IN 

Black and Colored Silks, China Silks, Dress Goods, French 
Sateens and Challies, French Lingerie, Silk House- 
waists, Parasols, Laces, Etc. 

All at prices guaranteed to be lower than those of 
any other house. 



Publishers of Koch & Co.'s semi-annual fashion Catalogue, the most com- 
plete guide on What to Wear and How tn Orflfr Jt ; indispensable to parties 
prevented by distance from doing their own shopping in New York. Will be mailed 
on receipt of Six Cents for postage. 

Sixth Avenue and Tirtrentieth Street. 




J. D. LYNCH, 



T nyn IP o I^ T IE] I?, 



<m- 



-•— '-jM— ♦- 



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Dresden, Bisque and Sevres Ware. 



~*~'.'J;h"*~^ 



No. 1 123 BROADWAY, 



NEW YORK. 



I 



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All goods purchased from us may be returned, less 5 per cent., 
^/vithin thirty days, should buyer so desire. 






KioHiisr's ♦ -A-i^/T ♦ K^oonvwdis 



c. GRIST DGcmeniGe, 



SUOOBSSOR, 



. 166 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW 

5^ Between 22d and 23d Street. '^iK 



^i fcnn 3 i:.f i^ |»^ 



Jfigfi (Bfa^i^ pdnting^ 



BY 



Smineat ©Krtl^t^, 



o:et ExmiBXTioiT ^itid i^oia s-A.iiBi 



ARE YOU GOING TO THE PARIS EXPOSITION? 



No. 2 Wall St., New York, 



.188 



Pay to- 



or Order. 



SdU cheque* in book form forspccisl vue of TRAVELLERS, CHEAPER 

THAN LETTERS OF CREDIT, and much more convenient. Payable at 

70 Banking Houses in PARIS, and every town in Europe. WITHOUT 

CHARGE. R -ferenrK • WiLLiAMS, Dbacom & Co., Bankers, ) t -_j-_ 
^'*'""'="- Union Bank OF ScoTi;,.A.ND. | London. 

Bankets: BA^K OF £NGI.A2n>. 

., K ^ 



THE 

CHEQUE BANK. 

Ldmiiti. 



Capttai. 



£100,000. 



Guarantee Fund, £27,000. 

TBTTSTBXS: 
Rt. Hon. JOHN BRIGHT, M. P . 
Rt. Hon. EARL BEAUCH.A.MP. 
JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, Esv, 

Profr Manchttter Gttardi^n. 

Every Cheque issued ii absolutely 
equal to Cash in every country, lor 
the reason that the Bank's Capit;iki 
and ^Guarantee Fund is invested in 
British Government Securiti-rs, The 
Bank does not discount notes nor 
•peculate. 

No Cheques are issued until cash is paid. The cash received is either deposited in tlic 
Bank of England, or invested in British Government Securities, for the payment of Che<jues. 
no matter how long they remain in circulation, \ ' 

CHeqne Baak Cheques are mncli cheaper than Xietters of Credit, and can b«) 
cashed in every town, and at upward of 2,000 Banking Houses in Europe 
without charge, and by upwards of 250 of the Principal Hotels in Europe. 

LIST OF AGENTS AND HOTELS WILL BE SENT ON APPLICATION. 

E. J. MATHEWS & CO., Bankers and Agents, Cheque Bank, 2 Wall St., New York. 

^ JOHN W. MACKAY, Esq., President of the Mackay-Bennett Cable Co. 
__,____..^_^ \ F. O. FRENCH, Esq., President Manhattan Trust Co. 
RFFFRFNCF?*' < W. L. ELKINS, F.sq., Director of the Pennsylvania Railway. 
llkl kllL.l1WI.t9 • i S. A. CALDWELL, Esq., President Fidelity Insurance, Trust and Safe Deposit Co., Phili. 

V. THOMAS COCHRAN, Esq., Preat. Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Co., Phita. , and othew. 



PRESS OF THE JAS. B. HOOQERS PRINTIWQ OO.. »4 N. SIXTH ST.. PHILAOELPMUL 



Sf 



* 



R. H. MACY & CO., 

Sixth Avenue, 13th to 14th Street, 

NEW YORK 



.,Sj^.O^O.-.*(fe>- 



\Y)g se^^ cxclusirelv for caeb in euery instanoe, all other houses 
base their prices on the losses inseparable from a credit system, 
ond cash buj/ers are the losers to the extent of the premium thcvf 
have to pay to cower these losses. 



■»i^-o*o.-i«».- 



Black and Colored SILKS, SATINS, PLUSHES and DRESS GOODS. 
Ladies' and Misses' Trimmed and Untrimmed HATS and BONNETS. 
RIBBONS, ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS and FEATHERS. 
LINEN GOODS and CURTAINS of every kind. 
Ladles' and Children's MUSLIN UNDERWEAR. 

AM manufactured on the premises; best material and con- 
scientious workmanship guaranteed. 

LADIES' CLOAKS, WRAPS and HOUSE JACKETS. 

MEN'S FURNISHING GOODS AND NECKWEAR, 

BOOKS AND STATIONERY. 

TIN, WOODENWARE, CROCKEF?Y, CHINA, and 

GLASSWARE, CUTLERY and HOUSEFURNISHING 

GOODS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 

Ladies', Misses', and Children's SHOES. 

Boys' and Youths' CLOTHING. 

FISHING TACKLE, at fully one-third less than usually charged. 

TOYS and DOLLS. TRUNKS and SATCHELS. 

MENIER'S CHOCOLATE, 

The celebrated Parisian Manufacturer, 38c. per lb. 

'<<gaf.-0^0—{^> — ■ --■ - ■ ■ — 

R. H. IVIACY A: CO. 



/ 



J,i< 



